Dominic Thiem wins 2nd stage of Berlin exhibition, reiterates US Open doubts
Dominic Thiem has been one of the most active players on tour during the lock-down phase. And in his latest event - the exhibition tournament in Berlin - Thiem has won as many as two trophies.
A week after beating Matteo Berrettini to win the grasscourt stage of the event, the Austrian thrashed Jannik Sinner 6-4, 6-2 to lift the trophy on hardcourt as well.
The World No. 3 has played a total of five exhibition tournaments over the past couple of months, giving him plenty of match practice. That could prove beneficial for him during the upcoming hardcourt swing, and especially at the US Open.
Dominic Thiem had declared about a week ago that he was willing to take part in this year's Cincinnati Masters and US Open. The Austrian would likely see this as a golden opportunity to win his maiden Grand Slam, given the strong possibility of a relatively weak draw.
Several players seem hesitant to take part, Roger Federer is out injured and Rafael Nadal seems to be preparing directly for the clay season.
However, during a press conference yesterday at the Berlin event, Thiem reiterated his doubts about the New York Slam taking place.
Dominic Thiem ‘hopes’ to take part in this year’s US Open
The COVID-19 situation in the US remains worrying, with the daily cases not showing any signs of coming down. That has rendered travelling to and staying in the country enormously risky, prompting many players to question the practicality of going ahead with the US Open.
Dominic Thiem on his part has no qualms about traveling across the Atlantic, but is unsure if the US Open will take place. When asked what the rest of his season would be like, Thiem replied:
“I hope the rest is the US Open. I’m still not sure that will take place, but the plan is to go there around mid August.”
There's still more than a month to go for the start of the US Open, which is plenty of time to sort things out. Thiem believes that if the authorities decide to host the tournament as scheduled, it would signal a return to normalcy.
“If the tournament goes on then that will mean the circuit is back to normal, which we are all hoping for,” the Austrian said.
No more exhibitions for Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem has played a whopping 16 matches over the last four weeks. More notably though, he has won 15 of those matches - which goes to show the level of determination and quality that he has put up even for these exhibition events.
But every good story comes to an end, and so has Thiem’s tryst with exhibition tournaments. After beating Jannik Sinner in the final of Berlin's hardcourt stage, the Austrian revealed he was finally ready to take some rest.
“The last few weeks have been fun but I hope that today was my last exhibition match for quite a while,” Thiem said.
Time will tell if Dominic Thiem will be in action during this year’s US Open. If he does, he would no doubt be one of the favourites to lift the trophy.