"Hopefully I will play them soon" - Dominic Thiem eager to challenge Sinner and Alcaraz

Tuesday, 19 July 2022 at 22:00

Updated at Saturday, 14 December 2024 at 21:47

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byZachary Wimer

Dominic Thiem did not play for over a year due to his wrist injury and he never got to experience the rise of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in the past year.

The Austrian player experienced their tennis through the screen as Thiem keenly followed the US Open and watched both Sinner and Alcaraz play some fabulous tennis.

It was a strange experience for Thiem as a year earlier, he was the best player in the event, ending up with the trophy. He recalled that feeling in a recent interview.

“I started to watch again from the US Open onwards. It is a little bit different if you watch from some distance For 10 years I was almost at every tournament, so watching on TV is different."

"But now you see way more stuff and I also thought ‘How good are they playing!’ It is unbelievable I was there just one year ago, so you appreciate the level much more."

Turning his attention back to Sinner and Alcaraz, Thiem talked about them both. When talking about the Italian player, Thiem admitted that he was aware of his talent.

"I played against Jannik Sinner at an exhibition and hit with him at many tournaments, so I knew he was coming to the top and he was good [to watch]. He has been there for a while and he will probably be even higher soon."

He was also aware of Alcaraz's qualities, but the young Spaniard made his rapid rise during Thiem's absence, which is why the Austrian player didn't get to know him too well.

“I knew Carlos Alcaraz, but he made the big breakthrough when I was not there. But I saw him quite a lot because he won Umag and then he played in Kitzbuehel and he lost to an Austrian guy [Alexander Erler] and I saw that whole match. You could see it was not going to take long for him to break through. You could see he was going to be in the Top 10."

Since he didn't get to play against them in recent years, Thiem finally wants to get back to winning ways and challenge both Sinner and Alcaraz on the tennis courts soon enough.

"Hopefully I will play them soon as it is always exciting to face new players as I have faced most of the guys already and know them quite well. I can imagine it is not that fun to play against Alcaraz. It must be really hard!"