Will the French Open see the rebirth of a star? Austria’s Thiem to play his opening match at Roland Garros

The biggest favourites, led by Djokovic and Alcaraz, are now entering the opening round of the Grand Slam in Paris. But there are more interesting names at Roland Garros. There’s one slightly forgotten name in the starting field. Dominic Thiem. The Austrian will be looking for a big comeback at the French Open.

Two years ago, he was in the top five of the ATP rankings. Then came the wrist injury. Inevitable, according to Austrian Dominic Thiem.

“When I was young, I used to give my body a workout almost every day to the limit of what was bearable,” he explains the inevitability of the injury. But the consequences of the injury were worse than the tennis player anticipated. The rigours of the following months were difficult to cope with, even though the 29-year-old had never been injured for a long time before.

The native of Vienna’s New Town has understandably fallen down the rankings and wants to get back up. This year has started with some not very strong performances for him. “I played at a really bad level, definitely not good enough to beat the top players on the circuit,” Thiem admitted himself. And beating the best is exactly his goal.

A return to form

The former world number three’s performances started to turn around at the US Masters in Miami and Indian Wells. Although the Austrian dropped out in the first round at both events, he was starting to feel better about his performance. And the upcoming clay court tournaments confirmed it in terms of results.

Dominic Thiem played the quarterfinals in Munich, where he fell to world No. 8 Taylor Fritz. He made an even better impression at the Masters in Madrid. The Austrian’s three-set battle against Greek Tsitsipas was the highlight of the opening rounds of the Madrid event. Thiem lost after sets 6::3, 1::6, 6::7 but left a very good impression.

“The match against Tsitsipas was close, really close, and I feel like I’m able to play at the level I want to,” the two-time French Open finalist praised his second-round match in Madrid.

The Austrian devoted the last weeks before the peak of the clay court season to two lower-tier tournaments. Let’s see if his hard work will bear fruit at the Grand Slam that is just beginning. It starts today and his draw is acceptable. His opening opponent will be Argentina’s Cachin, the current 64th player in the ATP rankings.

Source: Eurosport, ATP