Dominic Thiem’s Wimbledon warning to Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer: ‘I feel well again’

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Dominic Thiem says he is feeling well again and is ready to compete at Wimbledon following disappointment at the French Open. Thiem has been working hard on his game after suffering a shock first-round defeat at Roland Garros to Pablo Andujar and is raring to go at the All England Club next week.

The Austrian has struggled for form so far in 2021 but is still ranked fifth in the world going into the third Grand Slam of the year.

The 27-year-old won the 2020 US Open and has taken the decision to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympic Games later in the summer in order to concentrate fully on defending his title at Flushing Meadows and competing at Wimbledon.

He will play Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the last 16 of the Mallorca Open on Tuesday afternoon as he looks to bounce back from the defeat by Andujar on May 30.

Thiem had led the Spaniard by two sets in Paris but the world number 70 battled back to win in five sets and take a major scalp – a defeat which prompted the Austrian to go back to basics.

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“Straight after Roland Garros I was going back on a practice court for almost two weeks on a hard court, still at home, just to fix my shots again, because they were not as they should be in the clay-court season,” Thiem admitted.

“Now I feel well again with my shots, with my footwork. I practised two days in Austria on grass courts and already four days in Mallorca and I feel pretty well.

“But on grass, you never know what is going to happen. The most important for me was to fix my shots, to improve my footwork, to move well again on the court and that’s what I did in Austria.”

Thiem is considered an outsider by the bookies to win Wimbledon, with Novak Djokovic the heavy favourite at SW19.

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The world number one is in supreme form, having scooped the Australian and French Open titles already this year.

The 34-year-old will be joined by the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev and Roger Federer as the front-runners at Wimbledon, with Rafael Nadal not competing in south west London.

Thiem has gone out in the first round on his last two appearances at Wimbledon, but having practised his grass court game, he is feeling more confident of his chances.

“Now, I’m fine again, I’m normal again… I couldn’t play well enough for the French Open,” he said.

“Grass, you never know what’s happening, so you are just trying to gain some confidence, to practise very hard, to play well in matches.”

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