Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem

Thiem (2015)
Country (sports)	Austria
Residence	Lichtenworth, Austria
Born	(1993-09-03) 3 September 1993 Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	2012
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Coach	Günter Bresnik
Prize money	$ 3,105,805
Singles
Career record	107–68
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 7 (5 June 2016)
Current ranking	No. 7 (5 June 2016)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (2016)
French Open	SF (2016)
Wimbledon	2R (2015)
US Open	4R (2014)
Doubles
Career record	16–33
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 110 (16 May 2016)
Current ranking	No. 110 (23 May 2016)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2016)
French Open	1R (2014, 2015, 2016)
Wimbledon	2R (2014)
US Open	2R (2014)
Last updated on: 23 May 2016.

Dominic Thiem (born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player who has an ATP high ranking of world No. 13 which was first achieved on 7 March 2016. He has won six singles titles on the ATP Tour.

Tennis career

Juniors

Thiem reached an ITF Junior world ranking of No. 2 (combined singles and doubles). He lost a close final match at the 2011 French Open Boys' event, to Bjorn Fratangelo, 6–8 in the third. Thiem completed his junior career by winning his last three singles tournaments, culminating in taking the singles title of the prestigious Dunlop Orange Bowl.

2013

In 2013, Thiem received a wild card to the main draw in the 2013 Bet-at-home Cup Kitzbühel, where he made it through to the quarterfinals by defeating the fourth seed Jürgen Melzer in the second round. He lost in the quarterfinals to Albert Montañés in straight sets. Dominic reached his second quarterfinal of the year of an ATP 250 event at the 2013 Erste Bank Open. He was given a wildcard, but lost to the top seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in three tough sets.

2014: First ATP final

Dominic started off the year at the 2014 Qatar ExxonMobil Open by making it through the three rounds of qualifying to get a place in the main draw, but lost to Peter Gojowczyk in the first round. At the 2014 Australian Open, Thiem made it through the three rounds of qualifying and defeating the second seed along the way, Martin Klizan, to get a spot in the main draw. He defeated João Sousa in the first round in four sets, making it his first main-draw victory at a Grand Slam tournament. He then lost to 19th seed Kevin Anderson in straight sets.

Thiem qualified for the 2014 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, beating Kenny de Schepper and Adrian Sikora to be in the main draw of an ATP 500 event for the first time in his career. In the first round of the main draw, Thiem beat Jarkko Nieminen in three sets to progress to the second round. In the second round, Thiem gave an impressive performance, but lost to Andy Murray in three sets, having won the second.

At the 2014 BNP Paribas Open Thiem was seeded sixth in qualifying and made it into the main draw. He defeated American qualifier Daniel Kosakowski in the first round in his first Masters 1000. He then had his most remarkable win to date in the second round against the 21st seed and former World No. 6, Gilles Simon, in straight sets. He then lost to Julien Benneteau in two sets.

The next week at the 2014 Sony Open Tennis he made it through the qualifying rounds again to get a spot in the main draw. He defeated Lukas Rosol in straight sets in the first round. He was defeated by the sixteenth seed, Tommy Robredo, in the second round in a tight two setter.

Thiem received a wild card entry into the main draw of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters. But he got defeated in the first round by Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in three sets. The next week he made it through the two rounds of qualifying at the 2014 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. In the first round he beat veteran player, Radek Štěpánek, in straight sets. In the 2nd round, Thiem beat Marcel Granollers, before losing to Santiago Giraldo.

At the 2014 Mutua Madrid Open, Thiem qualified for a main tour event for the 7th time in 2014. In the first round of the main draw, he beat Dmitry Tursunov to progress to the 2nd round where he had the biggest win of his career when he defeated the world number 3 Stanislas Wawrinka in three sets. Thiem started his campaign at the 2014 French Open by beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets. In the second round he faced world number 1 and the defending champion Rafael Nadal, but was defeated in straight sets, only winning 7 games in the process.

Thiem next played at the 2014 Aegon Championships in London but lost in the first round to David Goffin. He suffered a second consecutive first-round loss on grass when he was defeated by Australian qualifier Luke Saville at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships in four sets.

After Wimbledon, Thiem played at the 2014 International German Open. He defeated Jiří Veselý in straight sets and No. 8 seed Marcel Granollers in three sets before being defeated by Leonardo Mayer in the third round. Thiem was seeded at an ATP tournament for the first time in his career at the 2014 Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad. Seeded 8th, he lost in the first round to wildcard Viktor Troicki.

At the 2014 Bet-at-home Cup Kitzbühel, Thiem was seeded fifth. In the quarterfinals he defeated defending champion and number two seed Marcel Granollers in straight sets. He then beat Juan Mónaco to reach his first ATP World Tour 250 final at the age of 20. In the final, he fell to David Goffin despite being a set up.

Competing in his first ever US Open in 2014, Thiem reached the fourth round after two first round defeats in both Toronto and Cincinnati Masters. He defeated Slovakian Lukáš Lacko, 11th seed Ernests Gulbis, and 19th seed Feliciano López, before losing to 6th seed Tomáš Berdych.

2015: Three ATP titles

At the 2015 Australian Open, Thiem lost in first round to Roberto Bautista Agut. At Rotterdam he won over Ernests Gulbis in first round but fell to Sergiy Stakhovsky in second round. At Marseille, he defeated João Sousa and David Goffin to reach the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by Bautista Agut. The next week at Dubai he lost again to the Spaniard in first round. The Austrian reached quarter-finals of the Miami Open, after defeating Diego Schwartzman, Feliciano López, Jack Sock and Adrian Mannarino, then lost to Andy Murray in three sets. At the Rome Masters he won over Gilles Simon to reach third round, where he was defeated by Stanislas Wawrinka.

Thiem won his first career ATP World Tour title in Nice, France, defeating Nick Kyrgios, Ernests Gulbis and John Isner en route before winning a close three-setter against Argentina's Leonardo Mayer in the final.

At the 2015 French Open, Thiem defeated Aljaž Bedene in four sets to progress to the second round, where he was defeated by 21st seed Pablo Cuevas in four close sets.

Thiem started his grass court campaign at the 2015 MercedesCup, where he entered as the seventh seed. Despite this, he fell in the first round to qualifier Mischa Zverev. At the 2015 Gerry Weber Open, Thiem suffered another first round loss, against second seed Kei Nishikori. The Austrian entered the 2015 Aegon Open Nottingham as the seventh seed, which gained him a bye into the second round. He easily defeated Malek Jaziri to claim his first win on grass in 2015, but was knocked out in the next round by Alexandr Dolgopolov. Thiem competed at the third grand slam of the year, the 2015 Wimbledon Championships as the 32nd seed, marking the first time he had been seeded at a grand slam tournament. He defeated Israel's Dudi Sela in four sets, marking his first ever win at Wimbledon. In the second round, Thiem lost a close five-setter against Fernando Verdasco, despite being 2–1 up in sets.

After Wimbledon, he next participated at the 2015 Croatia Open Umag as the fourth seed, giving him a bye into the second round. With wins over Dušan Lajović and compatriot Andreas Haider-Maurer (after both players retired), Thiem advanced to the semifinals, where he came back from a set down to win against Gaël Monfils and earn himself a place in his third career final. In the final, he defeated Portugal's João Sousa in straight sets to claim his second career ATP World Tour title. A week later, Thiem won his third title at the 2015 Swiss Open Gstaad, beating David Goffin in the final, and winning back to back tournaments for the first time. As a result of these tournament wins, Thiem achieved a new career high ATP ranking of world No. 21.

Thiem next played at his home tournament, the 2015 Generali Open Kitzbühel as the No. 1 seed, marking the first time he entered an ATP tournament as the top seeded player. After receiving a bye, he managed to avoid an early exit, as he gained a close three set win against Andreas Haider-Maurer, despite being a set down, and a break down in the final set. He defeated Albert Montañés in the quarterfinals, after his opponent retired five games into the second set. In the semifinals, he was denied a place in his third consecutive final when he lost to German Philipp Kohlschreiber in two sets, ending his winning streak of 10 matches. After the tournament ended, Thiem entered the top 20 for the first time, reaching a new career high of world No. 18.

2016: First ATP 500 title, first Grand Slam quarter-final

Dominic started the year with a semifinal run in Brisbane on outdoor hard courts, beating James Duckworth, Denis Kudla and world number 13 Marin Čilić but losing to Roger Federer in straight sets. He then received a bye into the second round of the Sydney International (outdoor hard), where he was forced to retire against Gilles Müller due to a recurring right forefoot blister. Dominic reached the third round of the Australian Open (outdoor hard), his best run yet. He beat Leonardo Mayer and Nicolás Almagro, but lost to world number 16 David Goffin in four sets.

Dominic next competed at the Argentina Open (outdoor clay), where he was seeded fifth. He beat Pablo Carreño Busta, Gastão Elias (saving a match point), and Dušan Lajović to reach the semifinals. There, he upset top seed, world number 5 and defending champion Rafael Nadal in three sets after saving another match point. Dominic went on to win his fourth ATP title by defeating Nicolás Almagro in three sets.

He next competed at the Rio Open (outdoor clay). There, Dominic defeated Pablo Andújar and Diego Schwartzman to reach the quarterfinals. He ensured that he would contest his second semifinal in as many weeks with a second top-ten win in two weeks, this time over David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2. After the match, Dominic stated that "it was one of the "best matches of [his] life". However, he faced a surprise defeat against world number 71 Guido Pella in the semifinals, displaying visible signs of fatigue during the match. Despite this, due to his deep runs in two consecutive tournaments, he attained a career-high ranking of 15 on 22 February 2016, and was named the ATP's "Mover of the Week".

In February, Dominic won the Mexican Open (outdoor hard) in Acapulco: his first hard court title, the four others having come on clay. He defeated Damir Džumhur, Dmitry Tursunov, Grigor Dimitrov, Sam Querrey and Bernard Tomic 7–6^(8–6), 4–6, 6–3 en route. This was his first ATP 500 title and second crown in the space of three weeks. With this win, Dominic once again attained a career-high ranking, this time of 14 on 29 February. He also rose to world number 3 in the Race to London.

In early March, Dominic participated in Austria's Davis Cup Group I first round tie versus Portugal on indoor hard courts. In singles, he defeated familiar foe Gastão Elias in a fifth set tiebreak. Partnering compatriot Alexander Peya, he also beat Elias and João Sousa in doubles 6–7^(6–8), 6–7^(4–7), 6–1, 6–3, 6–4. In reverse singles, Dominic took down Sousa in straight sets to give Austria an unassailable 3–1 lead, and the team went on to win the tie by four rubbers to one. Following the tie, he reached another milestone ranking, becoming the world number 13 on 7 March.

Next, Dominic competed at Indian Wells on outdoor hard courts. He defeated Jozef Kovalík, at which point he "notched a tour-leading 21st match win of the year", and Jack Sock, before falling to world number 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

In late March, Dominic traveled to Miami, an outdoor hard court tournament. He defeated Sam Groth and Yoshihito Nishioka, before succumbing to world number 1 and two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic 3–6, 4–6. Dominic held fifteen break points over the course of the match, but was only able to make good on one.

In early April, Thiem played at the Monte-Carlo Masters. He beat Jan-Lennard Struff and Taro Daniel in three sets apiece, before losing to a resurgent Rafael Nadal in straights.

In late April, Dominic reached the ATP 250 final in Munich on outdoor clay after beating Santiago Giraldo, Ivan Dodig and the youngest player in the top 50 of the ATP rankings, Sascha Zverev. In the final, he played good friend and world number 27 Philipp Kohlschreiber, erasing two championship points from 4–5 down in the decider but ultimately losing 6–7^(7–9), 6–4, 6–7^(4–7). Following the match, Dominic said: "It was very painful for me but Philipp was the better player today, and he deserves to win ... I've won the last five finals [I have played in]... now I've lost one. It's no tragedy, especially against Philipp.”

In early May, Thiem lost to resurgent Argentine Juan Martín del Potro in the first round of the ATP Madrid Masters.

He then competed in the Rome Masters, winning his first round match against Alexandr Dolgopolov after losing the second set 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. In his second round match he played Joao Sousa, defeating him in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. He next played Roger Federer, who was suffering from a back injury. He earned his fourth top 10 win by defeating him in straight sets, 7-6^(7-2), 6-4. In the quarterfinals, Thiem lost to sixth seed Kei Nishikori in straight sets. In Nice, Thiem successfully defended his title, beating Alexander Zverev 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, having not lost a set until the final.

Playing style and reputation

Thiem is primarily an aggressive baseline player who is adept at defending as well. His groundstrokes are solid on both wings, with a heavy forehand and a tenacious, powerful single-handed backhand. He is notably one of the few younger ATP players to use a single-handed backhand. According to Thiem, he changed to his now famous single-handed backhand at the advice of his coach. His backhand can effectively handle high bouncing balls which has been a big problem for lot of single-handers, including Roger Federer. Thiem often uses heavy, penetrating groundstrokes to construct points and hit winners or outlast his opponents. He has a long take-back on both wings, and the top-spin he produces on his groundstrokes allows him to both attack and defend well. Thiem also possesses a strong serve, capable of reaching 145 mph (233 km/h).

Thiem has solid volleys, though they are not a major weapon in his game. He often only comes up to the net to finish off points with a single volley, though he has been known to occasionally serve-and-volley as well, especially when playing on clay and serving from the ad side to his opponent's backhand. Thiem often employs a top-spin serve for both his first and second serves, resulting in a relatively slow, but looping serve that forces his opponents back.

Compared to the younger players on the ATP tour, Thiem uses prolonged baseline play and careful construction of points to win. His play-style, particularly the long take-back on his groundstrokes, ability to sustain long baseline rallies and top-spin serves have greatly benefitted his clay game, where he has had the most success (winning 4 of his 5 ATP titles there). He has beaten many great clay-court players on clay before, most notably Nicolás Almagro and Rafael Nadal en route to his Argentina Open title, as well as Stanislas Wawrinka in 2014 in the Madrid Open and Roger Federer in the 2016 Italian Open. His mental game has also been praised, especially his tie-break win percentage, which is currently 12-3 in 2016.

Off-court, Thiem is known as a humble character, rarely involving himself in any controversy. He operates his own Facebook page, in which he often posts his match results, along with personal reflections on each match he has played in both German and English.

Career statistics

Main article: Dominic Thiem career statistics

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

P#

DNQ

A

Z#

PO

G

S

B

NMS

NTI

P

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	2R	1R	3R	0 / 3	3–3	50%
French Open	A	2R	2R		0 / 2	2–2	50%
Wimbledon	A	1R	2R		0 / 2	1–2	33%
US Open	A	4R	3R		0 / 2	5–2	71%
Win–Loss	0–0	5–4	4–4	2–1	0 / 9	11–9	55%

Doubles

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	1R	2R	0 / 3	1–2	33%
French Open	A	1R	1R		0 / 2	0–2	0%
Wimbledon	A	2R	A		0 / 1	1–1	50%
US Open	A	2R	1R		0 / 2	1–2	33%
Win–Loss	0-0	2–3	0–3	1–1	0 / 7	3–7	30%

External links

• Dominic Thiem at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Dominic Thiem at the Davis Cup