Dominic Thiem lacks consistency is his attitude during matches at grand slam tournaments, according to former world No.1 Mats Wilander.
The Austrian fifth seed survived a huge scare in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday. Thiem battled back from two sets down to ousts wild card entrant Alex Bolt 6-2, 5-7, 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-2. Hitting 56 winners to 31 unforced errors, but only managing to convert seven out of his 24 break point opportunities. He has now won three out of his fourth matches that has gone to a deciding set at Melbourne Park.
“It was a tough match.” Said Thiem. “Alex played great with a great crowd support.’
“For me it was nice to play in such an atmosphere and I think today was my first win on Melbourne Arena. So I’m very happy.”
Despite a clinical end to his second round encounter where he won 12 out of the last 15 matches played, Thiem did at times look fragile on the court and at one stage received a code violation. His occasional lapses in concentration has been criticised by Wilander. Who has called on the world No.5 to ‘separate’ his body language from the court.
“There is a big difference between him and Rafa, Roger and Novak because you can’t really tell if they are playing well or not with their attitude. With Dominic when he’s up in the match and starts to not play so well, he immediately shows that he is not happy with his tennis.” Wilander said on Eurosport’s Game, Schett and Mats.
“That’s something he has to change. This is a reason why he has lost in the first round of Wimbledon and the US Open last year.’
“His attitude has to be more consistent.”
Thiem is a two-time grand slam finalist at the French Open, but has endured a lacklustre record in the majors in recent months. Last year he only managed to win back-to-back matches in one out of four grand slam tournaments. Furthermore, he is yet to reach the quarter-final stage at either the Australian Open or Wimbledon in his career.
Comparing Thiem to the prestigious Big Three, Wilander believes there are more difficult opponents for him on the tour based on game style. Although he believes a major part of those problems is linked to his mental game.
“There are more bad match-ups for him (than the Big Three). Let’s say a lefty with a slicing serve to his backhand on a fast court.” He explained.
“With Dominic there is an obvious ‘oh yeah, that match is gonna be trouble.’ How do you get away from that? With a better consistent attitude throughout the whole match.”
Wilander wasn’t the only one to cast shade on the 26-year-old. Also speaking on Eurosport, former player Barbara Schett was another to raise concerns over his consistency. Even though Thiem was one of two players last year to win five ATP titles along with Novak Djokovic. Schett is also from Austria.
“I am a big fan (of Thiem). He is number five in the world and has been as high as number four. But in some matches he plays I feel like he could lose to somebody ranked 150 or 200. “ She said.
Thiem will play either Taylor Fritz or Kevin Anderson in the third round.
