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Dominic Thiem prevailed over Australia's Alex de Minaur 7-6(7), 6-4 in a testing encounter on Thursday that lasted nearly two hours. With the win, Thiem has booked his place in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open.
The Austrian had been away from the ATP tour ever since he was eliminated from the Dubai first round in March. Thiem has won both his rounds in Madrid so far without dropping a set, but during his post-match presser he spoke about what was still "missing" in his game.
"Well, I think the greatest potential (area of improvement) is that the whole match rhythm is still a little missing," Thiem said. "I want to manage to really keep the intensity at 100% again. And over the whole match, I had a little drop today after that tight first set. Sometimes I played with too much effort."
Dominic Thiem was pushed hard by Alex de Minaur, particularly in the first set, which Thiem clinched in a tiebreak after saving a set point. The Austrian insisted that he is yet to find the rhthym and anticipatory skills required to return to his best.
"Everything just has to be loosened up a bit, because then the punches are just more aggressive," Thiem said. "The whole match rhythm, the whole anticipation is still a bit missing."
Dominic Thiem did, however, maintain a positive outlook about his return to the tour in Madrid. He also claimed he is looking forward to playing against either Andrey Rublev or John Isner in the quarterfinals on Friday.
"There were a lot of good things here today and the win, or these two wins, are a positive surprise for me," Thiem said. "Now I am happy that I have another chance against another absolute top player tomorrow."
Really good players will follow suit and I think that's important after the era of the Big 3: Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem admitted during his presser that he does not watch or follow tennis during his down time extensively. He did claim, however, that he is excited by the young players on tour, and asserted that Jannik Sinner is the "furthest" of them all.
"When I'm not in tournaments myself, I usually don't watch tennis myself," Dominic Thiem said. "I just got used to it. But the closer I got to the tournament again, the more I watched myself. All the younger players are really interesting and attractive to look at. Sinner is probably the furthest."
Thiem also had words of praise for 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz after watching his second-round encounter with Rafael Nadal in Madrid.
"Yesterday I also saw Alcaraz against Nadal live in the stadium," the Austrian added. "Really, really good players will follow suit and I think that's important, especially after this era with Nadal, Djokovic and Federer."
