"I have full confidence on him" - Rafael Nadal believes Dominic Thiem will make strong comeback in 2023
Rafael Nadal has shown great belief in Dominic Thiem, picking the Austrian star as the player he believes will make the best comeback on the ATP tour this season. The Spanish tennis great declared his confidence in Thiem and feels the 'champion' player is too good not to regain his best form sooner rather than later.
Thiem has been climbing back up the rankings, slowly but steadily, ever since he fell outside the Top-350 last season after undergoing a long layoff due to a wrist injury. Back inside the Top-100 for the first time since then, the former US Open champion is still searching for a consistent run of results.
However, Nadal feels Thiem's time in the biggest tournaments is not far away, predicting a great comeback season for the 29-year-old.
"Dominic Thiem," Nadal declared in a video posted by the ATP tour, when asked to pick a player he believes will have the best comeback in 2023.
The Spaniard went on to express his admiration for Thiem.
"I like him. He's a champion, amazing player. I have full confidence on him," the 36-year-old expressed.
Thiem is one of the very few players to have beaten Nadal at least four times on clay. Two of those wins came at Masters 1000 tournaments in Rome and Madrid respectively, with Thiem's other two clay wins against the 14-time French Open champion coming in Buenos Aires and Barcelona.
However, the Spanish great beat the Austrian in back-to-back French Open finals in 2018 and 2019, with Thiem being able to win just one set across both matches.
Meanwhile, the Austrian has had a tough start to the 2023 season, losing his first four matches. He lost in the first round of the Adelaide International 1 and the Australian Open, before then losing both his singles matches in Austria's Davis Cup tie against Croatia last week. Injury issues are still chasing Thiem as he suffered a rib injury during his Australian Open first-round clash with Andrey Rublev.
Dominic Thiem's intensity is similar to Rafael Nadal's, says fellow ATP player
Facing Dominic Thiem is similar to facing Rafael Nadal in terms of the intensity the two players bring to matches, according to former India No. 1 Sumit Nagal. Nagal faced Thiem in the second round of the 2020 US Open, before the Austrian eventually went on to win the tournament for his maiden Grand Slam title. Safe to say, the Indian player was left in awe of Thiem's intensity during their match.
"When you play these big players, you learn a lot," Sumit Nagal told Sportskeeda.
"When I played Thiem, I realized how important intensity is because his intensity is probably one of the highest, like Rafa’s (Nadal), you know. Every ball he’s there."
After missing the first three months of tour-level action last season, Thiem will aim to quickly find his form again as a string of good results will help him further climb up the rankings and be in a much better position ahead of the French Open in May.