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Dominic Thiem spoke extensively with the media ahead of his Qatar Open fixture against Aslan Karatsev on Wednesday. The Austrian revealed that his US Open triumph last year has greatly increased the expectations he has from himself at every event, which in turn has been difficult to deal with.
Dominic Thiem was unable to live up to his seeding at the 2021 Australian Open, as Grigor Dimitrov knocked him out in the fourth round. But even though the Austrian wasn’t fit in his fixture against the Bulgarian, he didn't use that as an excuse for his defeat.
For Dominic Thiem, winning his first Major title has only increased his desire for glory in every tournament that he plays.
"(Expectations on myself have increased) especially after winning the US Open," Thiem said. "In every tournament, I compete in, it is almost only the victory that counts."
With his exploits in 2020, Dominic Thiem has firmly established himself as one of the big dogs in men's tennis. But the Austrian explained that unlike the others, he needed more time to familiarize himself with that kind of status.
"I'm a bit different from the very young players who were used to being the favorite at every tournament from a very young age," Thiem added. "I grew into this role more slowly."
Dominic Thiem then revealed that he was left overwhelmed by the demands of his trip Down Under, an experience he described as 'strange'.
"It took me a while to digest the whole thing," Thiem said. "The whole trip was exhausting in Australia with quarantine. It was a very strange trip."
Having set the bar very high for himself at the event, Thiem was left bitterly disappointed by his early exit.
"That (his expectations) makes the whole thing very difficult, of course," the Austrian continued. "I left Australia with a really bad and also sad feeling because I lost in the fourth round."
Doha is a good chance to build up self-confidence: Dominic Thiem
The 2021 Qatar ExxonMobil Open is the first event for Dominic Thiem after the Australian Open. And the 27-year-old aims to use the event to 'build up self-confidence' and lay the platform for the mini-hardcourt season up ahead.
"Doha is a good chance to build up self-confidence," Thiem said. "It will be one of the last tournaments on hardcourt. So I want to do well there and hope that I get a reasonably good start on Wednesday."
During the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev had floated the idea of holding several tournaments in one location to avoid multiple quarantines. Dominic Thiem, however, prefers to wait and see how the pandemic unfolds before throwing his weight behind such a proposition.
He said in this regard:
"That depends on how the pandemic develops, how the situation develops in the different countries. I only heard that, for example, Madrid is on the very good path, that they can host the tournament. England is generally on one good way, also with the vaccinations."
