Dominic Thiem: Review of 2018 Season and Predictions for 2019

Dominic Thiem, the twenty-five year old Austrian, has been long hailed as the heir apparent to the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. The affable Austrian took some significant strides during the 2018 ATP season in reaffirming that long-held belief in his clay court credentials, and also took some major steps forward towards establishing himself as not just a clay-court specialist, but an all-court player.

Thiem played his first tournament of the season at Qatar Open, where he reached the semi-final but had to withdraw from that match due to illness. At the Australian Open, he suffered a shock fourth-round loss to the unseeded American, Tennys Sandgren.

But he overcame that disappointment to win his first ATP tour title in almost a year by winning the Argentina Open at Buenos Aires, where he defeated Aljaz Bedene in the final. However, the North American swing did not go well for him. He had to withdraw in his third round match at Indian Wells and had to skip the Miami Masters all together, due to injury.

But this extended and forced rest proved to be a blessing in disguise for the Austrian as he entered his favorite clay court season, fully fit and rejuvenated. He made to the quarter-final of the Monte Carlo Masters, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. He reached the quarter-final stage of Barcelona open, and he lost again at that stage to the young Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Then he reached his third quarter-final of the clay court season at Madrid Masters, where he again ran into Nadal. But this time, Thiem avenged his Monte Carlo loss and in the process, ended Nadal’s 21-match and 50-set winning streak on the clay court.

He suffered a shock loss to Fognini in the first round of Rome Masters. But he bounced back from this loss by winning his second ATP tour title of the season at Lyon. He defeated Gilles Simon in the final.

2018 French Open - Day Fifteen

And then came the biggest breakthrough of his young career, when he reached the French Open Final, his first major final. Though he lost to Nadal in straight sets, by reaching the final, he established his credentials as a possible future king of clay.

He did not have a great season on grass, losing early at Halle and withdrawing in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships, while two sets and a break down against Marcos Baghdatis. At Hamburg, he lost to Nicolas Jarry in the quarter-final.

His preparation for the final grand slam of the season was far from ideal as he lost in the first round of the Rogers Cup to Tsitsipas and then had to withdraw from Cincinnati due to illness. He entered the US Open without much expectation from the experts who saw him as a clay court specialist. But he took some significant strides during his US Open campaign towards establishing himself as an all-court player.

At the US Open, Thiem reached his first hard court grand slam quarter-final. Though he went down to Nadal in that match, it was not without fight. This was a match between a player who is considered a clay-court specialist and the other who was considered only a clay-court specialist a few years ago. It’s ironical that it’s they who produced possibly the match of the season on a hard court at the biggest hard court event!

After the US Open breakthrough, Thiem secured his third title of the season by winning the St. Petersburg Open, defeating Martin Klizan in the final. At Shanghai, he lost in his opening round match to Ebden and at Vienna Open, he lost in the quarter final to Kei Nishikori.

He then boosted his hard court credentials further by reaching the semi-final stage at the indoor hard court of Paris Masters. He lost the semi-final to the eventual champion, Karen Khachanov.

He qualified for the year-end World Tour Finals at London. Though he lost his first two matches in straight sets to Kevin Anderson and Roger Federer, he signed off the season in style with a win over Kei Nishikori.

Predictions for 2019 Season:

Ranking: He will finish the year among the top 10.

Grand Slam Result: After a runner-up finish in 2018, he could win his first Major at French Open in 2019.