Dominic Thiem Puts Wrist Issue Behind Him - "I have full trust in it"
ATP
Dominic Thiem is rapidly gaining confidence and it only took a few wins at the Estoril Open last week to get him going.
The Austrian looked very in control against solid veteran Richard Gasquet at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, advancing after two sets. His game is looking more and more like the Thiem of old and there is proper power in his shots, something that was missing before. It's a huge part of how he plays and it shows him fully trusting his wrist again.
The power was not there last year even when I started to win matches and playing better. In the inner season the power was not there yet. Also maybe not in the beginning of the year, but now, which makes me very happy, the last month, last weeks, it's coming back, especially in practice.
The week in Estoril was a very positive one despite the loss to Quentin Halys. He arrived with a lot of confidence in Monte-Carlo, earning a very important win. It's a turbulent time for Thiem as he's trying to regain his form and improve his ranking in order to secure a main draw entry into Roland Garros.
Splitting with his longtime coach Nicolas Massu recently certainly makes things more complicated but he's smiling and winning again. In the end, that's what matters to him most. Now it's about finding this level on a consistent basis and winning weekly.
Some positive signs happened already in Estoril, and today I had the feeling that I was doing from time to time good damage with both forehand and backhand. I have the feeling that the shots are there, the power is there like before, but I was using it wrong. I was not using it in the right way, but there is full trust again in the wrist, full trust again in the forehand.
