Dominic thiem has always been known as one of the hardest working men on tour. With a strong build and hard groundstrokes, the Austrian can give the top ranked players a hard fought match. After his win in rio (which secured his second 500 level victory) Thiem is now at that the stage in his career where deep runs at major tournaments are expected. However, his 2017 season has been rocky at best and it has left many wondering if a sophomore slump could be in the cards.
Thiem needs to learn how to pace himself
One of the major criticisms of Thiem has been his lack of discipline when it comes to his scheduling.
A player that loves to compete every single week, Rio marked his sixth tournament of the season. Other players in the top 10 have played three or four at most. With head scratching losses toward the end of the 2016 season and a disappointing effort against David Goffin at the Australian Open, many commentators have begun to worry about the Austrian’s potential to suffer from burnout. That type of scheduling made sense last season when Thiem was only ranked in the twenties and was not sure if he would even make a deep run at some of the events he entered. Now firmly in the top 10, the Austrian needs to prioritize the big tournaments and bypass smaller events. If Thiem is to have a long and successful career, he should look to someone like Roger Federer as an example.
The Swiss is still winning grand slam tournaments at the age of 35 and has only had one major injury.
His game style translates well on all surfaces
Something that Thiem showed everyone last season was his ability to play well on all surfaces. In just the first half of the season, the Austrian won titles on clay, hard and grass courts.
Though his game is most effective on slow clay courts, the fact that he managed to defeat both Federer on grass and Nadal on clay shows that he could potentially conquer both surfaces in the future. Although he has long and winding groundstrokes, the Austrian uses his superior movement to more than make up for short balls. If Thiem can incorporate better court positioning and come into the net a little more frequently, his matches would not become nearly as physical as they currently are.
That being said, Thiem has a lot of points to defend in the upcoming months, and while he did manage to win a title this week, his refusal to dial back the tournaments could lead to early exits at the big events.
