WATCH: Sebastian Baez gives a classy tribute to Dominic Thiem before taking a cheeky dig

After a string of marathon matches all week, Thiem found himself in the final against Baez in the Austrian tournament..

WATCH: Sebastian Baez gives a classy tribute to Dominic Thiem before taking a cheeky dig

Dominic Thiem and Sebastian Baez (Image via www.krone.at)

Most of the focus of the tennis world is on the North American hard courts as the Citi Open makes most of the headlines. However, it’s not the only event that is going on. There is a clay event that is taking place in Austria side by side, Austrian Open Kitzbühel. The big name in action in that event certainly was local boy Dominic Thiem. Thiem had a great week in general as he made it to the final of an event after a long period.

After a string of marathon matches all week, Thiem found himself in the final against Argentinian Sebastian Baez. Both players had done well in their respective draws to make it to the final match. However, clearly Thiem was the exhausted one as he failed to dish out a solid performance. Thiem lost the match 6-3, 6-1. Later, in the post-match on-court interview Baez took a slight cheeky go at the veteran Austrian ace.

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He started by hailing the Austrian and finished it with a sly comment. Baez said,“Many years ago I saw you on the TV and you motivated me. Congrats for the week and the team and hope you play better than this week.” He did start by saying that Thiem motivated him a lot but ended by sort of signalling that there is enough scope of improvement.

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However, Thiem will be extremely happy. After a long time, the Austrian could survive so many three-set matches. The most draining of them all was against Laslo Djere. The longest 3-set match of Thiem’s career.

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Can Thiem repeat the 2020 glory in New York?

Dominic Thiem us open 2020 trophy 1
Dominic Thiem (Image via ATP Tour)

As Thiem wraps up his home tournament, he will now join most of the guys in North America. Thiem hasn’t appeared in the Toronto Masters draw and will most likely appear at the Cincinnati Masters. The solitary event success in Grand Slam has come at the US Open for the Austrian. It was in 2020 when he defeated Alexander Zverev in a dramatic five-set final where he had come back from being two sets down.

As Thiem now is showing progress in his game, but can the World No. 116 push it up one more level to challenge the best on the biggest stage? If he stays physically fit he will be able to as he sure does have the quality. His backhand still has the same magic it has pre-injury. However, Thiem needs to start playing on the hard courts soon to get the feel of the surface as the clay where he just played, as it is vastly different. A deep run at the Cincinnati Masters will do him a world of good in terms of confidence.

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