Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem returned to the tour after some time with a dominating 6-1, 6-3 win over Marcos Giron in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open. However, despite the solid victory, Thiem is keeping his expectations limited as he does not want to harbour any high expectation in this tournament.
Speaking to the media the Austrian explained how his focus is to get ready for the Roland Garros He added that his expectation from Madrid is super low as he wants to improve his game more by playing for matches.
“There were times in March when I felt very bad in general,” Dominic Thiem said. “Even then, however, I had Roland Garros in the back of my mind as a great goal. My expectations are still there, that’s where I want to achieve my goal – peak of play again.”
“To be honest, two weeks ago I didn’t even know if I was going to be here, so expectations are still super low,” Thiem added. “A win like today is a great success, because it gives me the opportunity to play another high-level match, something that will help me for the next few weeks. The expectations here are tremendously low, and I hope to raise them little by little each tournament.”
The 27-year-old has no doubts of him being rusty as he was out of action since the Dubai Open in March. So he was not nervous to face Marcos Giron rather he was concerned with the center having only trained at the outer courts which are faster and smaller.
“No, there was no anxiety, but without a doubt, there was uncertainty to see how things were going to turn out,” Thiem explained. “I was playing quite well in my last days of training, but I always practiced on the outer courts, which are faster and smaller.”
The former US Open winner took a break from tennis after getting knocked out by Lloyd Harris at the Dubai Tennis Championships. Thiem also did not have a great Australian Open as he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in straight in the fourth round.
Currently in Madrid, Thiem will face the talented Australian youngster Alex de Minaur in the third round of the event.
