Mats Wilander: Dominic Thiem "has a good chance of ending the year as number one"
Mats Wilander sprinkled roses on Dominic Thiem in an interview with Reuters . The Swede expects the Austrian to have great chances for the game year 2021 - including ending the year as the world's number one.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Feb 04, 2021, 03:53 pm
It was tough words that Mats Wilander addressed to Dominic Thiem almost exactly a year ago. The Austrian had just defeated Alex Bolt in five sets with an extremely below-average performance and thus secured a ticket for round three of the first major of the year. An appearance that was at best worth criticizing for Eurosport expert Mats Wilander: "With Dominic there is an obvious ´Oh yes, this will be a difficult game´", stated the Swede at the time and addressed an appeal to the Austrian in the same breath: "His attitude must be more constant."
Now, a year later, Wilander seems to be satisfied with the way the Lichtenwörther has developed. As the former world number one reveals in an interview with Reuters , he even sees Thiem as the "most complete player" on the tour today: "When you see him now, he has a really great hand. I think he has by far the most complete game for me, plays more varied than Novak (note Djokovic) and Rafa (note Nadal). Massu (note Nicolas, coach of Dominic Thiem) has helped him to be more creative when he is not playing well or is behind. He is much more mature. "
Change of coach important for Thiem
But that was not always the case, as Wilander emphasizes. In particular, the type of player that Günter Bresnik made Thiem into is something Wilander sees with an ambivalent opinion: "I was in Austria a few years ago and spoke to Stefan Koubeck and he told me that Thiem could do everything as a junior - drop Shots, backhandslice, then Günter Bresnik worked him so hard and made his game so ´basic´, which was necessary to give him this great foundation to deal with the basic qualities - the big forehand, the kick serve, the attempt to tyrannize the opponent - to be consistent ", quoted Eurosport the former world number one.
According to Wilander, Thiem is a good example of players who reach a different level through a change of coach, for the Swede the newly acquired variance of the Austrian, which he has brought to the field since working with Massu, should be emphasized. In the meantime, the Lower Austrian's strong appearances at the major tournaments have brought the Lower Austrian to third place in the world rankings. A journey that, according to Wilander, is far from over: "I think he has a good chance of being the best player in the world by the end of 2021, to be honest."