With a super performance on his much loved clay he has made a strong basis for a successful tennis season 2018. And now Dominic Thiem (ATP 7) wants to put up a good performance at the ATP-World Tour – pretty relaxed, but still with his own typical ambition. "I want to get to the deciding rounds. Every victory makes me happy“, the 24 year old from Vienna said at the "Media Day“, ahead of his campaign at the 26th GERRY WEBER OPEN. Thiem, whose overall great performance got him through to the French Open finals and was only stopped by the king of clay Rafael Nadal, will face Qualifyer Mikhail Youzhny in the first round. No easy task, Thiem stated: "Qualifiers have already played twice, they're going to the Main Field with tailwind."
Thiem enters the short, testing lawn season with much self confidence - even though he states the change from clay to grass is quite radical: "All the things that work on clay, just are useless on grass. Overall the footwork has to be changed completely. Skidding makes no sence", the Austrian Ace player said. He is looking forward to playing in Halle very much, Thiem said, "because I'm not putting myself under too much pressure. I'm facing this task quite freely, and that can take you quite far." Thiem on Roger Federer getting to the top once again: "That is a very impressive performance, but one can hardly congratulate him every time - he's been up there so often. He is in fact the best tennis player on grass of all times." "To beat Federer", Thiem said "in Halle or elsewhere, you need a perfect day and a super performance". "To succeed every little thing, absolutely everything has to fit."
Thiem is pretty ambitious about his Centre Court performances: "Success has to grow to make me satisfied", he said, "you don't want to stay in same place. When you're up there, it gets harder of course. The steps you climb get smaller and more challenging“ That is due to the overall high standard in modern men's tennis: "It's so close", the worlds No. 7 explained, "Weakness is never forgiven" Thiem hopes that there will be a generation change at the top soon: "It's time for the younsters to start winning the Grand Slam titles. The change would be refreshing."
