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Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem has endured a significant dip in form over the last 18 months due to injury. Bogged down by a severe wrist injury, it prevented him from competing at the highest level in the sport for over nine months, making his comeback on the tour in March.
However, Thiem's form appears to be trending in the right direction as the former World No. 3 reached the quarterfinals of the Swedish Open, where he lost to Sebastian Baez in three sets. To put this into perspective, this is the first time this year that he has won two consecutive matches and is his best result so far.
While preparing for the upcoming Swiss Open at Gstaad, Thiem spoke about how much support he has been getting from the fans not only in the stadium but also on the internet and social media. The Austrian spoke about how the support and encouragement from fans motivates him to get back to his old self and compete at the highest level once again.
"Yeah, I feel, I mean, it's great for all the support I get from the crowd, on-site, the atmosphere was really great, it was amazing. And also in the internet and the social media I get a lot of support, which means so much to me which also helps so much, no, on the way back, especially in the tough times, the first comeback lets say at the French Open where I was really struggling and then to get all this support on-site and also on social media and the internet, it helped me a lot," Thiem said.
Dominic Thiem will go up against seventh seed Hugo Gaston at the Swiss Open on Tuesday. The former World No. 3 will be hoping to build on his good run of form at Bastad and have a deep run in Gstaad.
Dominic Thiem's nightmare 2022 season
Dominic Thiem has been a shadow of his former self since suffering a wrist injury in June 2021. The Austrian has plummeted in the rankings ever since and has barely got past the first round at most tournaments this year.
After missing the Australian Open, Thiem returned to action at the Marbella Challenger and lost in the first round. A positive COVID-19 test halted him in his tracks. He has since competed in eight tournaments and registered his first win in a challenger event in Salsburg.
He then competed in Bastad and reached the quarterfinals, registering back-to-back wins, including his first top-20 win in nearly two years after defeating Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets.
