LONDON: Austria’s Dominic Thiem refused to find excuses for his straight sets loss to David Goffin at the ATP World Tour Finals.
The world No.4, who had previously lost to Goffin twice earlier in the year, struggled to find the right balance in his game. Hitting 11 winners to 27 unforced errors. The loss ended Thiem’s season as well as his chances of becoming the First Austrian player to reach the semifinals of the season-ending championships.
“I had a very, very good start obviously. Again, some very bad mistakes. I let him back into the game. Somehow after the 3-Love, I lost it until the end.” Thiem evaluated about his performance.
Since the US Open, the 24-year-old has only managed to win three out of nine matches on the ATP Tour. His win over Pablo Carreno Busta earlier this week was his first top 10 triumph since the French Open. In light of his recent lull in form, questions are starting to mount about Thiem’s mentality on the tour. Which has been in a decline since losing to Juan Martin del Potro in New York. In that match, he was leading by two-sets-to-love.
“I think before US Open and at the US Open I lost three very close matches with match points. I think nobody forgets it.” He admits. “I think it’s maybe still on my mind. Was a tough period to lose all these important matches, these tight matches.”
It might be a blessing in disguise that this has happened during the end of the season. Providing him with extra time to recover. Although Thiem appears to be conflicted as to if he has a problem with his mental state of not. He admits that recent losses continue to play on his mind, but refuses to attribute them to his latest defeat.
“I was just playing bad. So today has nothing to do with any mental problem. It was just a bad game. “
Scheduling is no problem
London was Thiem’s 27th tournament of the season (not counting the Davis Cup). Overall, he has played 76 matches on the tour. The world No.4 has earned a reputation for his hard work and packed schedule. Although, he continues to deny it is a problem for him.
“It doesn’t have to do anything with the amount of tournaments.” He said. “Of course US Open was very painful. Maybe would be easier if I would have won it and go out with more confidence out of this tournament than after this defeat against del Potro.”
Thiem concludes his season with one title from Rio de Janerio as well as runner-up trophies from Barcelona and Madrid. In 2018 he faces more obstacles with the return of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka. In hindsight, their return could help reduce the scrutiny he is placed under by the media. The only problem is that Thiem has high expectations of himself.
“For me the pressure is all the time the same. Personally, I think it doesn’t matter if they come back. I think in general it just gets tougher to win big titles and to stay up high in the ranking because they are so good players.” He concluded.
