Tennis never stops and just a matter of days after Carlos Alcaraz lifted his fourth Grand Slam title, we are straight back on the tour with some ATP 250 action at Gstaad. It can sometimes feel like a time when we tennis fans don’t know what to do with ourselves with a series of tournaments (both clay and grass) miscellaneously dumped in between the Wimbledon and the U.S. hard court swing. With the Olympics just around the corner perhaps this feeling is only amplified.
A tough story for Dominic Thiem since 2021
The reality is that this has been a series of struggling years for a former great who just can’t recover from a damaging injury. It’s similar to Andy Murray’s story in a way but comes at a much earlier stage in Thiem’s career. The nature of the wrist injury has dampened his power and stripped confidence from him. He has spoken in the past about an inability to fully trust his wrist since the horror injury which changed everything in Mallorca 2021.
Juan Martin del Potro saw similar issues with his wrist during his career which forced him to completely change his technique and adapt. Unfortunately for Thiem, he has been unable to do so and with his main attributes taken away from him, he has immensely struggled on a competitive level.
Coming into this clash he has suffered an incredibly poor season for his once high standards. Thiem hasn’t managed to win back-to-back matches at any level (including two Challenger events) having a losing record of 4-11.
Varillas has also struggled as of late
As for Varillas, it’s not been a season full of joy for him either. The once world number #60 has dropped well out of the top one hundred in the past season and has failed to put any form together which suggests those days may return. Sure, he managed to pick up a Santiago Challenger title, but that proved to be a flash in the pan rather than a sign of things to come.
An aggressive baseliner who favours clay though, this was never going to be a simple clash for the two-time Roland Garros runner-up.
Opening set to Varillas
As the opening set began the atmosphere built nicely. You felt that there was a sense of appreciation at an almost sacred moment to see Thiem’s final days on a competitive tennis court. The Austrian started slowly though with the lack of power his game now holds glaringly obvious. At times he looked as though a hitting partner who just couldn’t stamp his authority onto the match in any shape.
When a player’s confidence is low it is often apparent in the pressure point situations. In the opening set Varillas saved all three of his break points faced whereas Thiem wilted at his first conceded. The Austrian’s serve was also lacking efficiency as he managed to win just 64% of his first serve points while his opponent managed 80%.
Thiem manages to level
The tide began to turn in the second set as Thiem loosened up. He was swinging more freely although still carried a certain fragility in pressure points. He converted just two of the seven break points that went his way while Varillas managed one out of two. Besides when cruising he allowed Varillas back in to push the set to 7-5.
The question was whether such inconsistency could lead to victory?
Same old story for Thiem
The answer proved to be a resounding no. The final set in fact followed a similar pattern. Thiem started the better of the two dominating the backhand exchanges but got tight as the business end neared. He would lose in a tiebreak to paint a heartbreakingly familiar story. Similar to Wimbledon last year, he fell at the last hurdle.
It felt as though his top-level tennis was much higher than Varillas but tennis is a game about baseline level (in more ways than one) and being able to convert when it matters.
Dominic Thiem’s farewell season continues at Bastad next week, you can only wish for him that he gets some sort of feel-good run to leave him feeling satisfied. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane/USA Today Sports
