Dominic Thiem is hoping to kick-start his season on the European clay as the Austrian looks to return from an ankle injury.
Thiem, 24, has a huge number of points to defend on the surface after a strong performance this time last year. Thiem reached the final in Barcelona, and the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid. He followed the impressive run with semi-finals in Rome and at Roland Garros. His total number of ATP points collected over that run is 2,070. That accounts for well over half his current total in this week’s ATP rankings of 3,665.
Theim has had a decent start to the season with a title in Buenos Aires and a semi-final run in Doha. However, he was thrashed in his title defence in Rio at the quarter-final stage by Fernando Verdasco. His ankle injury caused him to retire from his third round meeting with Pablo Cuevas in Indian Wells.
The injury caused him to withdraw from the Miami Masters and Austria’s Davis Cup meeting with Russia.
Thiem posted an image of himself training on a clay court on Instagram, so it looks as if the ankle injury is fortunately rather minor and Thiem will be back to competitive action soon. Thiem: “Feels good to be back on court. Looking forward to the clay season. Back in business.”
