Austria’s Dominic Thiem has admitted he suffered a ‘step back’ after crashing out of his opening match at the Lyon Open.
The world No.4 fell 6-3, 6-2, to Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in just 65 minutes. Throughout the match Thiem struggled to find a way to crack his opponent’s serve who impressively won 30 out of 33 points behind his first serve. Furthermore, he also made a series of costly mistakes on both his forehand and backhand.
“It‘s just a huge step back, I was hoping to take the little positive signs from Madrid and Rome here, but didn’t work out. I have to analyze now and look now at Roland Garros,” journalist Chris Oddo quoted Thiem as saying after the match.
Thiem’s loss continues what has been a turbulent season so far. After taking a break from the Tour in order to ‘reset’ he is yet to reach his best form on the clay. A surface which he has won 10 out of his 17 ATP titles on. In Madrid he produced some solid tennis to reach the semi-finals before losing to Alexander Zverev, who went on to win the title. Then at the Italian Open in Rome he suffered a three-set defeat to Lorenzo Sonego.
During an interview with the ATP earlier this week, the 27-year-old said he was ‘heading in the right direction’ but admitted that he is still far from his best. Thiem is a two-time French Open finalist and reached the quarter-finals of the tournament last year.
“I am still trying to find my form. I’m not playing as well as I did in 2019 [at Roland Garros], when I played my best tennis, or as good as in 2018. But I am a better player now,” he said.
As Thiem goes back to the drawing board, Norrie is relishing in what is the biggest of his career to date in terms of ranking. It is the first time the Brit has beaten a top five player on the Tour. The victory is his 21st of 2021 which equals his person best for a season. He achieved a win-loss record of 21-25 during 2019.
“I’m so pleased to win today, it’s the biggest win of my career and my highest-ranked win,” Norrie said in an on-court interview. “It’s such a beautiful day in Lyon… I couldn’t be happier to get the win today and to get another match on the clay before Roland Garros.”
Thiem has confirmed that he will not take a wildcard into next’s week Belgrade Open which takes place a week prior to the Grand Slam.
