Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem met in the first round of the 2022 Madrid Open, and the British player prevailed in two sets to book his second-round spot in the Spanish capital.
The 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem is coming back from an injury and is currently on a four-match losing streak. However, his first-round opponent at the 2022 Madrid Open, Andy Murray, knows what it means to be coming back from an injury and supported him after the match.
The Austrian kicked off his comeback at the ATP Challenger tournament in Marbella, where he lost in two sets to Pedro Cachin. Then, he looked very good in a match against John Millman at the 2022 Serbia Open but lost again in three sets.
Following the loss in Belgrade, he accepted a wild card into the 2022 Estoril Open, where he, unfortunately, lost to Benjamin Bonzi again before entering the 2022 Madrid Open draw, where he lost to Andy Murray 3-6, 4-6 in an hour and 43 minutes.
After the match, the two shared a very nice exchange at the net, when the former world no. 1 addressed some nice words to Thiem, who is going through the most challenging part of his tennis career.
"Keep going. It takes time, but you'll be fine."
Currently, the former world no. 3 is on a four-match losing streak, and it's not something that he's used to, especially on clay courts, where he had so much success before.
However, the Austrian will be looking to add some more matches on the red clay as he will be taking part in the 2022 Geneva Open ahead of the second Grand Slam of the season - Roland Garros.
The French Open is the tournament where he played in the final twice, and even though that likely won't be his goal this year, Thiem is slowly but surely trying to build his way up, to again become the feared player that he once was.