Dominic is really the forgotten man of tennis. Since winning the "lockdown" 2020 US Open , it has been downhill for the Austrian maestro. Injuries , one after another didn't help get him in form either. Thiem won his first match in a year recently. Whilst not ideal, the thing with tennis is once you get that win you catch the feeling and the bug which is hard to shake. He faces Marin Cilic, the veteran from Croatia who I must say has had a decent 2022 considering the stage of career he is now at, just coming up just short against eventual champ Alcaraz in New York Round of 16 earlier in September. I missed seeing that Thiem backhand, considered the best in the game alongside the Wawrinkas out there. Check out first set 3-2(40-30) Thiem. The shot was difficult to execute as the return by Cilic was into the body and Dominic disguised it so well by cutting through the ball. Marin's strength is in his return game so not surprising he broke back without a problem. Watch 4-3(40-30) Thiem, solid returns needn't do much with the ball but make sure of making your opponent hit the next shot. Thiem was best in the first set breaker although narrowly sealing it with one of 11 Aces.
The Austrian however unraveled in set two unable to handle Marin's point construction. Check out first game of the second advantage Cilic. The increased unforced errors didn't help either ,2-0 Cilic(40-15). Pretty easy set for Marin. Not so in the decider. Now, the reason why Thiem adopts the kick serve on hard court other than clay is that it gets the adequate bounce to weaken the opponent's return. Just like at 3-3 third set (30-40). Now Marin is a tall guy relative to the average height of the tennis player. That is why he got to this bouncer and surprised Dominic with the return. That one break was all it took for the Croat. I get the feeling Dominic needs to be more than just a backhand guy(one trick pony?) to get back to the top of the sport. That backhand is worth seeing again nonetheless. Check out 5-4 first point. Variation is needed, serve and volleying rather than just being a baseline grappler.
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