“It was strong and after Novak arrived, it got unreal,” Thiem belives defending the title in Vienna is difficult but not impossible
Follow Us
thiem 5
Dominic Thiem returns to action in Vienna this week. The Austrian will be in action for the first time after his French Open quarterfinal loss to Diego Schwartzman. The US Open 2020 winner enters the Erste Bank Open as the defending champion and will be hoping to defend his title this time in his home tournament in Vienna.
Seeded 2nd at Vienna, Dominic Thiem will have to deal with a lot of competition as most of the top players except Rafael Nadal are set to play the tournament. The draw includes the likes of World number one, Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Danill Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Diego Schwartzman among the top players. Dominic Thiem will open his campaign againstUS Open 2014 finalist, Kei Nishikori in an intriguing 1st round clash.
Speaking to ATPtour.com, the Austrian acknowledged the fact that the tournament in Vienna was the strongest ATP 500 event he has ever been a part of. One cannot disagree with this fact because generally such a stacked draw can be found at the Masters Event or at Grandslams. However, the Austrian was optimistic of defending his title at home, and believed that it was not an impossible task but was very difficult.
“It’s always special to start as a defending champion at a tournament, but this year is unreal the whole draw,” Thiem said. “It was strong and then Novak arrived and it got unreal even. (It is) probably the best (ATP) 500 tournament ever. Defending the title is not mission impossible, but almost.”
Related: ATP Vienna 2020: Men’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Prediction for Erste Bank Open
Dominic Thiem regards his Vienna Open 2019 victory as his biggest title after his US Open triumph
Dominic Thiem revealed that he regards the Vienna Open trophy as the second biggest achievement of his career after his US Open triumph a month ago. Although an ATP 500 event, Thiem is emotionally connected to the Vienna Open because it is the Austrian’s home tournament and he has fond memories of him being a spectator at the event when he was younger.
“I would say of course after the US Open that’s still the biggest title of my career, it is probably one of the most emotional ones as well because I’ve been here since I was a four or five-year-old kid every year as a spectator who didn’t understand tennis, then as a spectator who was super interested in tennis,” said Thiem.
Dominic Thiem also revealed how he had used his time off to reflect on his loss in the French Open quarterfinals to Diego Schwartzman and his maiden Grandslam title at the Flushing Meadows. The Austrian has also set new goals for himself for rest of the season, starting with the Vienna Open.
Obviously I was completely done after the French Open, so I took off a week where I did nothing and I also had to still reflect on the US Open title,” Thiem said. “Then set myself new goals, of course looking forward to the tournament in Vienna, which every year has been a special highlight since I was a young kid, since I played here for the first time.”
Stay Updated!
/techfirstnow/media/agency_attachments/kATjCXskQdJKkXN0OuqW.png)