US Open champion Dominic Thiem has insisted that he is back to full fitness after recently being forced to withdraw from the Paris Masters.
The world No.3 said it took him ‘two to three days’ to recover from a foot injury which had recently sidelined him from action. He struggled with the issue during the Vienna Open where he lost to Andrey Rublev, who went on to win the title.
“Nothing is quiet in fall – the last weeks have been busy,” Thiem wrote in a blog post on his website.
“After losing in the quarterfinal at my home tournament in Vienna I recovered from my foot injury. It took me two, three days to recover, then I started my preparation for the final in London at the O2-Arena.”
Thiem’s focus is now on the ATP Finals which will get underway next week. The end-of-season event features the eight best players on the men’s Tour playing in a round-robin format. Last year Thiem reached the final before being ousted by Stefanos Tsitsipas. It is the fifth consecutive year he has qualified for the event and overall he has a win-loss record of 6-8.
“The memories of last year are nice! During the group phase I beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. I beat Alexander Zverev in the semi-final. Then I had that 6:7 in the third set against Stefanos Tsitsipas. It was just a few points that decided heaven or hell,” he reflected on his performance at the 2019 tournament.
The 27-year-old is set to attend the ATP Finals along with what he describes as a ‘mini-team.’ Singles players are allowed to bring up to three members of their team to the event which is being held behind closed doors for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accompanying Thiem in London will be his coach Nicolas Massu, who has been working with him since the first quarter of 2019. The former Olympic champion has recently been in Vienna and was caught up in a deadly terrorist attack that took place in the city. Four people was killed by a gunman who was a supporter of the so-called Islamic State terrorist group. The gunman was killed by police.
“My coach literally experienced the atrocious terror attack in Vienna, was close having dinner at a restaurant and was locked up until 2:30 at night. A terror attack that shocked the entire world! Suddenly life was at a halt in Austria. Very, very, sad,” Thiem commented.
So far this season Thiem has achieved a 22-7 win-loss record on the Tour and has earned $5.16 million in prize money. Besides winning the US Open, he also reached the final of the Australian Open in January.
