Unlike the likes of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem doesn’t take it easy when it comes to his tournament schedule.
This week the Austrian will play in his fourth consecutive tournament on the ATP Tour at the Mexico Open, his seventh of the year. In 2017 he has already won 12 matches across three different continents on three different surfaces. Thiem’s biggest achievement of the year so far occurred in Rio on the Clay when he defeated Pablo Carreno Busta to lift his eighth ATP title on Sunday.
Thiem’s commitment and dedication to the sport is something tennis fans admire. Still, concerns have been raised about the effects of such a busy schedule of his physical fitness. Last year he competed in 27 tournaments, winning titles in four of them and earning a place in the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time in his career.
The Austrian has his schedule looked after by his coach Gunther Bresnik, who has a wealth of experience in working with top players on the ATP Tour. During an interview with Brazilian site O Global on Sunday, the 55-year-old admitted that he was behind Thiem’s ‘F***’ schedule.
“The tournament schedule was really stupid. It’s all my fault.” Said Bresnik. “Sometimes there are personal reasons involved. For example, Paul McNamee is the director of Sofia, Krajicek in Rotterdam, and he always played there. In Rio, he had great memories from last year. They asked if they wanted to play there, too. And Acapulco is the fourth tournament.
“You end up with a f ***** calendar.”
With so many tournament commitments, some might expect Thiem to take it easier in his practice sessions. This is however not the case. Philipp Kohlschreiber once spoke about the 23-year-old spending 12 hours training a day. The claim has been confirmed by Bresnik, who provided some insight into a typical training day for the world No.9.
“We started at 8:00 AM running, then he took a coffee and back to practice. Then we had lunch and finished at 8:00 PM.’” Bresnik revealed.
Currently ranked inside the top 10, the Bresnik-Thiem approach is to avoid the criticism and let the tennis do the talking. It is a tough and tiring approach, but it is also one that could elevate Thiem to the top of the men’s game once the era of the ‘Big Four’ comes to an end.
