{"id":49194,"date":"2022-05-09T04:30:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T08:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=49194"},"modified":"2022-05-08T19:52:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-08T23:52:08","slug":"dominic-thiem-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/05\/09\/dominic-thiem-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dominic Thiem comeback is slow but steady"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dominic Thiem comeback story continued with defeat to Andy Murray in Madrid, and the Austrian’s frustrated grimace told the whole story. As his post-wrist injury comeback run extended to 0-4, Thiem’s disappointment was visible as he approached Murray for the post-match handshake. There, the Briton gave him some encouraging words:<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope you feel better soon. I\u2019m glad to see you back, keep going, it takes a lot of time but you\u2019ll be fine.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Murray knows what he\u2019s talking about. He understands the devastating effects of injuries better than anyone, as well as the sheer, gut-busting determination needed to recover. In Thiem, he has someone very similar to himself.<\/p>\n

The parallels between the two men don\u2019t end there. The story behind their injuries is also similar. Both men had enjoyed largely injury-free careers until they were struck down, Murray by his hip, and Thiem by his wrist.<\/p>\n

Both were also enjoying the prime of their careers just before these major setbacks. Murray had climbed to world #1 just months before his hip injury threatened to end his career in 2017. In Thiem\u2019s case he had won his first Grand Slam, cementing himself as a serious force in the men\u2019s circuit and a perennial contender at every Major. His career was primed to take off.<\/p>\n

While we have seen Murray\u2019s career play out post-hip replacement surgery, the Dominic Thiem comeback is still in its early stages. So far, it\u2019s been a tough ride back. He aborted plans to play at the Australian Open at the start of the year, and then withdrew from his next scheduled return date in Argentina.<\/p>\n

He shelved plans to play the “Sunshine Double” in the U.S. Eventually, he made his competitive return at a Challenger event<\/a> in Marbella in March. There, a straight sets loss in the first round was compounded by contracting COVID<\/a> shortly afterwards. Three further clay court events have come and gone, each ending in defeat at the first time of asking. At the time of writing his ranking has fallen to #91.<\/p>\n

Following more than nine months off the court, it\u2019s entirely understandable that the Austrian is currently far from his best. Just look at how a lack of court time has affected Novak Djokovic<\/a>, who is struggling by his standards despite not suffering from an injury.<\/p>\n

After all, this is a sport separated by inches. At the top levels of pro tennis the margin between defeat and victory is often tiny. Every player must get everything possible out of their ability \u2013 because even small losses of performance can lead to a big difference in results.<\/p>\n

Should Dominic Thiem worry about his comeback after four successive losses? Not necessarily. Make no mistake, there are plenty of promising signs. The tape shows that his movement is still good on clay. His one-handed backhand, one of the most picturesque on the ATP Tour, looks as lethal as it was. His serve equally looks untroubled.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s certainly too early to hit the panic alarm, it\u2019s clear that the effects of his wrist injury still bother him.<\/p>\n

The biggest difference is his forehand, which is currently a shell of what it was. As a player who uses his wrist heavily, adjusting this shot is especially tough for Thiem. The booming power and heavy topspin that characterized his game seem neutered. He is struggling to get any depth on that shot, resulting in loopy, unthreatening strokes that leave him open to attack.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t clear if this is a specifically physical problem, a mental one, or both. It is entirely possible that he is simply reluctant to hit the ball with so much force to avoid re-injury. Either way, his forehand simply isn\u2019t a weapon for him right now.<\/p>\n

The question now is when he will play like the old Thiem again. With each defeat, the worried whispers from the tennis world will only get louder. He will play at this week\u2019s Rome Masters, with an extra week afterwards before Roland Garros begins on 22 May. Thiem knows it’s a long road back from injury, but will desperately hope that the elusive first win isn\u2019t far away.<\/p>\n

Main Photo from Getty.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dominic Thiem comeback story continued with defeat to Andy Murray in Madrid, and the Austrian’s frustrated grimace told the whole story. As his post-wrist injury comeback run extended to 0-4, Thiem’s disappointment was visible as he approached Murray for the post-match handshake. There, the Briton gave him some encouraging words: \u201cI hope you feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4088,"featured_media":28828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,9],"tags":[16,2893,208],"class_list":["post-49194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp","category-featured","category-news","tag-andy-murray","tag-atp-rome","tag-dominic-thiem"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4088"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}