Dominic Thiem is fighting his way up the ATP Rankings and he's been quite successful lately as he reached semifinals in Gijon and Antwerp.
The 2020 US Open champion is currently ranked only as 113th man in the ATP Rankings and that doesn't grant him a direct acceptance to the 2022 Paris Masters main draw. Moreover, he wouldn't be able to enter the qualifying and so Dominic Thiem had to rely on organizers giving him a wild-card.
That happened but probably not in a way that the Austrian expected. Only French players were given main draw wild-cards as Richard Gasquet, Adrian Mannarino, Arthur Rinderknech and Gilles Simon will all compete in main draw of the 2022 Paris Masters.
However, Dominic Thiem received "only" a wild-card for the qualifying rounds where he will be joined by another three Frenchmen Hugo Gaston, Quentin Halys and Ugo Humbert.
Despite the surprising decision to award former world no. 3 and Gran Slam champion only a qualifying wild-card, the French tennis is currently going through a difficult period when no Frenchman is in Top 40 of the ATP Rankings for the first time since 1997. Therefore, the decision of tournament organizers can be quite logical as they may be trying to change this by giving their players a chance.
It also seems that Thiem is back on track and will have no problem with fighting in qualifying as he recently reflected on the lowest point of his season, when he said: "The French Open was the absolute low point, where I can understand all the critics. It was horrible how I played there," remembered Thiem in a talk with Austrian media ahead of the Vienna Open. "I had my doubts because before that there were a few months of full training. I saw in training that I'm far away and I can't win a set against the good guys"
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