Dominic Thiem boasts wins over Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic already this year. Now the 23 year old enters new territory at this week’s Citi Open as top seed at an ATP World Tour 500 event for the first time.
The Austrian boasts a 38-16 start to the season and will look to further improve on that mark when he makes his Washington debut against Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen. In a stacked field, it will be a matter of who has made the transition from Wimbledon’s grass best in a bid to dethrone defending champion Gael Monfils.
“It’s always a little bit tricky for me on the US hard courts because they’re a little bit fast so there are some adjustments to do,” Thiem said. “Most of the players here, including me, haven’t played for quite a long time. The last time we played was on grass so it’s going to be tricky for everybody.
“For us players it’s not that great because we have a lot of tough matches. But for the crowd it’s amazing to have such a strong field in Washington.”
[ALSO LIKE]
While Roger Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Stan Wawrinka have dominated the big events in recent years, Thiem is in rare company, having posted victories over each of his more-decorated rivals. He is touted as among the next big things to shake up the dominance at the top end of the men’s game, but he is under no illusion at the difficulty of breaking into the Top 5 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
“They’re really special. It’s very unusual that you have four players like this in one generation,” Thiem said. “I think it’s getting better for the younger players. There are some tournaments where we have a breakthrough against them but during the Grand Slams or the Masters 1000s we usually have to beat two of the big four guys in a row, which is a very tough thing to achieve.”
Germany’s NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev is the other name most mentioned in the same breath as the Austrian. Under the guidance of coach Gunter Bresnik, Thiem remains grounded, however, aware of the hard slog ahead.
“Of course, it’s nice to hear but I think we still have to win a lot of matches, a lot of titles to deserve to be called the next big things in tennis,” Thiem said. “All the other players are still too dominant. It’s nice to hear that but still I think it’s still really far away for both of us.”