After what has been a rollercoaster past couple of years, Dominic Thiem believes everything is finally starting to come back together for him.
The Austrian claimed his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2020 US Open but the following year a serious wrist injury sidelined him from the Tour for months. Returning to action, Thiem struggled to regain his form as he suffered a series of frustrating losses. He displayed glimpses of his best but they were nowhere consistent enough to secure his rise back to the top of the sport.
It has been a similar pattern this season for the 27-year-old who only managed to win one match in his first seven tournaments played. His run of early tournament losses came to an end last week at the Estoril Open where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Quentin Halys. Carrying the momentum gained from the event, he has got off to a strong start at the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday by defeating Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-4.
“The shots are getting way better. I have the feeling that I can go full power for many, many shots again with the wrist,” Thiem said following his latest Tour victory.
“There is no restriction anymore. Now the goal is to put everything together because there are way more to tennis and things required to play good matches than to just be able to hit full. That’s the goal right now.”
The promising signs from Thiem coincide with a major development in his camp. He is no longer working with Nicolas Massu who has been coaching him since 2019. Under Massu’s guidance, the Austrian won six Tour titles and rose to a ranking high of No.3 before suffering his wrist injury.
“The emotions are the thoughts were only positive, because everything I want to keep in mind with Nico was or is the incredible four years we had, the incredible journey we had,” Thiem said of his work with the Chilean. “Actually, only after I finished I realized what great success we had, which is unbelievable. So that’s everything what stays in my mind. But, now it’s time for a new chapter for him and for me, as well. I tried to make it as good as possible.”
Massu is a former top 10 player who is best known for winning the men’s singles title at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
After a quick replacement, Thiem has begun working with Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh who is best known as the former mentor of Angelique Kerber and as a commentator for Eurosport in Germany. He has also previously worked with the likes of Alize Cornet and Chun-Hsin Tseng.
“Benny, we were always like a little bit in contact,” said Thiem. “We knew each other. Now there is not a lot of time because I have no time to lose. I needed a coach right away, and so we decided to start the relationship and to give it a try.”
Thiem will be hoping to keep his rise in form going in Monte Carlo this week where he will play Holger Rune in the second round. Should he win, Rune will be the first top-10 player he has defeated since the 2020 ATP Tour Finals.
