US Open champion Dominic Thiem has said living in a bubble on the tour can be ‘rough’ and mentally testing following his opening match at the ATP Finals.
The 2019 runner-up has shed light on what the situation is like for players at the season-ending event following his three-set win over Stefanos Tsitsipas. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament is taking place behind closed doors for the first time. Players risk getting disqualified if they leave their ‘bubble’ without legitimate reason. A rule that has also been applied to other tournaments.
Thiem says the biggest difficulty he faces is the absence of fans cheering him on during matches. A total of 242,883 fans attended The ATP Finals across eight days in 2019.
“Physically, I think it has been the easiest year for a long time. Today was my 30th match on the Tour (this season) which is not a big number,” Thiem said during his press conference.
“Mentally it is tough because you get so much energy from the fans. If you have a huge win like today you have an atmosphere from like several thousand people which brings so much positive energy and all of this is missing.’
“You have to instead bring it up yourself in matches. That’s exhausting.”
To highlight the extent organisers are going to in order to maintain the bubble, players are not allowed to walk from their hotel to the court. Even though it is less than 500 meters separating the two venues.
“The first and second floors (of the hotel) are for us players so we cannot come in touch with people outside of tennis which I think makes it a very safe environment,” Thiem explains.
“But it’s pretty rough because every day we get like two or three minutes of fresh air and no sun at all.”
Whilst it is debatable that the no walking policy might be somewhat too excessive, Thiem and his peers remain grateful that the event is still going on amid the pandemic. Earlier this year the virus resulted in the Tour being suspended for more than five months with Wimbledon being cancelled for the first time in the Open Ear.
“We are all still grateful that these big events are still happening and that we can still do our job. So as long as this strange situation goes on I guess we will have to deal with it,” he concluded.
Thiem will play Rafael Nadal and Andrey Rublev later this week in the tournament. It is his fifth consecutive appearances at the ATP Finals which is the longest active streak on the Tour.
