Dominic Thiem has turned to the Indoor hard-court season for confidence as he increases his schedule ahead of the 2023 season.
The Austrian is working his way back from wrist injury and picked up some wins on clay in Bastad and Gstaad after Wimbledon.
However, Thiem wasn’t able to transfer that form into the US hard-court swing as he lost in the opening round to Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open.
Now the former Grand Slam champion looks to build his confidence on Indoor hard courts starting with this week’s challenger event in Rennes.
Thiem won his opening round match against the nearly-retired Gilles Simon 4-6 6-3 6-2 in front of a 2,000-capacity crowd in the French city.
Speaking to Quest France, Thiem said he’s going to be very busy towards the end of the season as he looks to build confidence ahead of the Australian Open in January, “I am here for the third time. I really liked the city,” the Austrian said.
“It was a decision to come back here to start my indoor season. I’m going to be very busy, the next few weeks I expect I will play about six, seven events. I reached the quarterfinals at Bastad and also at Kitzbühel.
“At the US Open, my first round was also good. But that was not enough against Pablo Carreno Busta. But it gives me confidence for the final portion of the season.”
Thiem is currently ranked at 216 in the world and will look to get inside the top 100 by the end of the year, if he wants to enter the Australian Open automatically.
Some of the tournaments Thiem will be playing will involve the ATP 250 event in Tel-Aviv, followed by the ATP 500 event in his hometown of Vienna.
Firstly Thiem has to focus on the Rennes Challenger and next up for the Austrian is Brit Ryan Peniston.
