Dominic Thiem sets French Open main draw goal
Dominic Thiem has set out his stall to make it to the French Open main draw after the start of the clay swing.
Thiem reached the last eight of the Estoril Open and is relishing the change of pace on the ATP Tour.
It has been a slow climb back up the rankings for Thiem who spent a long time out of the game with injury.
Thiem admits that he hit a bump in the road in the first quarter of the 2023 season.
However, Thiem feels that getting back onto clay could be the boost he needs to propel him into the French Open main draw.
He feels that he has continued to improve during that time even if the results haven’t gone his way.
Thiem hopes to ensure that he won’t have to get involved in the Roland Garros qualifying tournament to take part in the second Grand Slam of the year.
He is currently just inside the ranking cut-off for Roland Garros and after a great start in Estoril, it would appear that the goal he has set himself is attainable.
“I am playing better and better, just the results in the first quarter of the year were not there,” said Thiem after he beat Ben Shelton in the Round of 16 in Portugal.
“But this part of the season, I love it, European clay-court season. I have a big short-term goal to reach the main draw of the French Open. Every match win, all the points are helping me, so quarterfinals is a good first step.”
Thiem has found the conditions in Estoril to his liking after having a rough time on the North American hard courts.
World No 80 Quentin Halys will be the next opponent for the Austrian as he bids for a first semi-final this season.
Thiem has set himself up as one of the player’s to beat in Estoril and the weather has played along with still warm days giving him the platform to play at his very best.
“Yeah, the higher the ball bounces, the better for me. Today was great, was warm weather, not windy. I like the balls and the courts are also pretty fast, they are dry. So, it’s taking the spin very well and it suits my game pretty good. I’m happy to play in the quarterfinals tomorrow.”
Thiem will tackle Halys from 19:00 (BST) at the Estadio Millenium on Friday 7 April.
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