The former world number three, Dominic Thiem has been absent from the ATP Tour for some time, but why is this and what signs have we seen that indicate motivation is a major factor?
James Spencer – @jspencer28 opinion piece
Well since winning the US Open in 2020, he dropped off a cliff.
A man that reached the mighty highs of world number three, appeared to lose all motivation to go again.
He was rarely seen in 2021 and his ranking took a huge hit.
June was the last time he was seen on the ATP Tour in Mallorca on grass.
Prior to this he was shocked at the French Open by then 35-year-old Spanish veteran (now 36) Pablo Andújar, in five sets in the first round.
Considering Thiem has reached the final of the French on two separate occasions in 2018 and 2019 back-to-back and pushed Rafa Nadal, the King of Clay, on his favoured surface, this was an underwhelming result.
Someone of the Austrian’s calibre should be doing so much better.
In the warm-up event in Lyon, an opening round defeat to Cameron Norrie also signalled that something was not right.
Before this, Thiem’s clay-court form was not too bad.
He can point to some fairly decent results with reaching the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters 1000 and the round of 16 at the Italian Open.
Thiem’s camp can also say he has been injured and troubles with his wrist, that was his issue in Mallorca and contributed to the long absence.
However, on the whole, Thiem has underperformed since his crowning glory in New York, it is only fair to say.
By his own standards, he has gone from troubling Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer with sublime performances on clay and hard-court, to barely being able to string a few good results together at even non-prestigious tournaments outside of the Grand Slams.
It is also fair enough that he reached such a big career milestone by winning a first Grand Slam title, and achieving something only Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Potro and Daniil Medvedev, have been able to do outside of the titanic three.
It is normal to experience a lull and a drop in motivation after achieving such a huge life goal.
Look at Medvedev right now. Since becoming world number one, he has looked patchy, and shadow of the player that looked near invisible at the Australian Open, and the back end of last season.
But a drought should only last so long and Thiem’s has lasted a good 18 months.
Fair enough he was injured in June but the comeback we were expecting was in January at the ATP Cup, and possibly the Australian Open.
That was smart not to throw himself straight into a Grand Slam and after little to no warm-up tournament practice.
But here’s the BUT.
Thiem promised fans in January he would be appearing in Cordoba and Buenos Aires in February. Yet he pulled out of both a week before.
He then said that same month, he would be appearing the following month at Indian Wells and the Miami Open.
Now that is when I originally wanted to write this piece because I KNEW that he wouldn’t play in California and he would pull out again.
And that is exactly what happened.
That lead me to think that is Thiem really injured currently or in February or March? Could he have played?
I think for sure he could have played, but he didn’t for whatever reason that is.
Does this mean that Thiem is lacking motivation? He has admitted in the past that he had lost motivation and love for the sport, so it is entirely possible.
However, looking at the Austrian powerhouse’s Instagram feed lately, I have to say I have seen motivation a plenty, and I have been very impressed by this.
So, his latest promise is that he will appear in April on clay at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Now this is an ambitious step as it is a very prestigious tournament to return to with little or no competitive match practice.
Besides the Andalucía Open which he announced this week.
Monte Carlo is a Masters 1000 no less, forgot ATP 500, or ATP 250, or Challenger circuit events.
This is a bold move from Thiem, and if it pays off it could really be the launchpad for him to build his season, and again challenge the elite, like days of old.
He is still only 28 and still possesses the wonder backhand, and all the weapons, and mental strength on the court to beat the world’s best.
Tennis has missed him, but has he missed tennis? We will soon see.
