Dominic Thiem "feels on the right track again" after French Open 2023 first round loss
Dominic Thiem believes he's on the right track again despite losing in the first round of the 2023 French Open.
Thiem made a quit exit at Roland Garros after losing to Argentina's Pedro Cachin in five sets, 3-6, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4, 2-6, on Monday, May 29.
Speaking at a press conference after the match, Thiem said that six weeks ago he felt "he is on the right way again". In the weeks prior to the French Open, Thiem lost 6(3)-7, 2-6 to Hamad Medjedovic in the semifinal of the Mauthausen Challenger in Austria and to Corentin Moutet in the second round of the Bordeaux Challenger, 6-7, 1-6.
When asked what exactly changed at that time, he said:
"Yeah, I was, well, changing perspectives again and then changing my attitude again towards the game from, like, well thinking about or thinking of giving 100 percent, but not really doing it again. That's what changed."
He added:
"The last six weeks were really good. But, yeah, obviously it's not enough yet to play well, to play well in a tournament like that. But, yeah, again, I feel that I'm on the right track again. Today I just failed to reward myself. Yeah, it's just I have to continue."
Speaking about his match against Cachin, where he managed to come back from two sets to love but ultimately failed to win the match, Thiem said:
"I didn't start well at all. How should I say, I was very tight. What I was expecting I had very, very good practice sets, but most of the times in the first real match it's not that easy, and that's what happened."
He added:
"I was fighting back great, starting to play a bit better. And then, yeah, I missed to do the last step, to reward myself, to give myself a chance to play a second round maybe a little bit looser. I was not able to do it. Yeah, that's how it is now."
Dominic Thiem remembers "heaven and hell" at the 2019 French Open
In 2019, Dominic Thiem had his best Grand Slam appearance to date, beating Novak Djokovic in a hectic semifinal which was played on two different days because of weather delays.
After defeating Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5, Thiem faced Rafael Nadal in the final, where the Spaniard was victorious in the end, winning in four sets, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
After finishing as the runner-up, Thiem stated that he experienced "tennis heaven and hell" in a matter of few days. During the press conference after losing to Pedro Cachin at the 2023 French Open, he equated the last few years of his career to also being "heaven and hell" because of injuries and results below his standards.
"It was exactly like that, from tennis heaven to tennis hell, and now hopefully back to tennis heaven. It was a really, really great experience like in the previous years, and now also it's a very good challenge what I'm facing right now," he opined.