"Dominic Thiem needs maximum depth and width to play his best" - Mark Petchey on court size for Austrian's clash vs Rafael Nadal suiting his game

Dominic Thiem suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Rafael Nadal in the first round of the 2024 Brisbane International. The Austrian, who had to play two qualifying matches to enter the main draw, could not cope with the pace of Nadal, who was making his long-awaited comeback from injury.

Mark Petchey, a former British player and a tennis analyst, offered insight into Thiem’s performance and explained why the court size mattered so much for his game.

Thiem is known for his powerful baseline game, which relies on hitting deep and heavy shots to push his opponents back and create angles. He also likes to have enough space to run around his backhand and unleash his forehand, which is one of his biggest weapons. He is especially effective on clay courts, where he has won 10 titles.

Nadal, who had not played a competitive match since the Australian Open 2023 due to a hip injury, showed no signs of rust as he dispatched Thiem, 7-5, 6-1. Nadal hit 12 winners and only four unforced errors. The Spaniard also won 90% of his first-serve points and 80% of his second-serve points, while the Austrian won 68% and 59%, respectively.

Petchey took to X ( formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, January 2 to share his thoughts on Thiem’s loss. He said that the Austrian was lucky to play on the main court against the Spaniard, as it was more conducive to his style.

"Must be nice for Dominic Thiem to be in a Stadium sized court again. One of the many vagaries about tennis is that your style is more productive on certain courts. He needs maximum depth and width to play his best. Not being on the main courts these days is a huge disadvantage for him," Petchey wrote.

Dominic Thiem’s qualifying run was also far from smooth. He beat James McCabe 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in a match interrupted by a snake scare; an eastern brown snake slithered onto the court at the end of the first set. Thiem then had to go through another three-setter against Giulio Zeppieri in the final qualifying round.

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A look into Dominic Thiem's performance in the 2023 season

Dominic Thiem at the 2023 BMW Open by American Express

Dominic Thiem had a rough start to his 2023 ATP tour season, bowing out in the first round of qualifying at the Adelaide International 1. He got his first win of the year over Alex Molcan at the Argentina Open in February. The Austrian failed to register back-to-back wins until April.

Thiem made some progress at the Estoril Open and the Munich Open, making it to the quarterfinals at both. He went all the way to the final at his home event, the Austrian Open Kitzbuhel, where Sebastian Baez beat him 3-6, 1-6.

Thiem’s next impressive result came at the Astana Open, where he advanced to the quarterfinals. However, he lost to Sebastian Ofner in three sets.

Thiem's Grand Slam performances were not very impressive. The 30-year-old suffered first-round losses at three out of four Majors, falling to Andrey Rublev (Australian Open), Pedro Cachin (French Open), and Stefanos Tsitsipas (the Wimbledon Championships), respectively.

At the US Open, Dominic Thiem overcame Alexander Bublik in the first round but withdrew from the second round mid-match against Ben Shelton.