“I have the feeling that I can go full power for many, many shots again with the wrist” – Thiem looking to put the pieces together

The Austrian scored his first ATP Masters win since 2021 and only his fourth win on the tour in 2023

Dominic Thiem at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters Image Credit: Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic

April 11, 2023

Dominic Thiem played one of his best matches of the season on Monday at the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, beating French veteran Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-4 to move into the second round of the ATP Masters Series event.

This was Thiem’s first win at the ATP Masters level since 2021 and only his fourth on the tour in 2023. Playing without Nicolas Massu by his side, the Austrian told the media later that he now can hit the ball without any worries about his wrist – the injury that kept him off the tour for nine months starting June 2021.

“Well, it was not the victory itself but more the way I played, which makes me think positive. There were signs of or some good signs already last week in Estoril. Now I improved even more,” the former US Open champion said, “The shots are getting way better. I have the feeling that I can go full power for many, many shots again with the wrist. There is no restriction anymore. Now the goal is to put everything together, because there is way more to tennis, way more things required to play good matches than to just be able to hit full. That’s the goal right now.”

“(This) was the first match since a very long time which I was starting up, not down, probably even the first match of the year where I was not starting with a break down or even but where I was starting going ahead, which felt very good. Then I played it through until the end and was good.”

“There is full trust again in the wrist, full trust again in the forehand” – Thiem

Without Massu,with whom he has worked for the last four years, by his side, Thiem said he wants to keep the positive emotions from their partnership in mind even as he begins working on a trial basis with Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh (coach) and Matthias Kapl (physio).

“The emotions are the thoughts were only positive, because everything I want to keep in mind with Nico was or is the incredible four years we had, the incredible journey we had. Actually, only after I finished I realized what great success we had, which is unbelievable. So that’s everything what stays in my mind. But, now it’s time for a new chapter for him and for me, as well. I tried to make it as good as possible.”

After ending 2022 on a positive note by reaching two consecutive semi-finals, Thiem admitted that his slow start to the season was disappointing, especially as he had been feeling good during his practice sessions.

“What was really tough was the beginning of this year, because I was finishing 22 with good things, back-to-back semi-finals, a very good tournament in Vienna, and I was motivated. I was ready to make the next steps in the new season. Then I had a terrible start. But still, there all the time in practice and also in some matches there were some good signs, some positive signs, and I tried to think about that, tried to look at those positive moments. Now I have the feeling that things are slowly coming together.”

“I have the feeling that the shots are there, the power is there like before, but I was using it wrong. I was not using it in the right way, but there is full trust again in the wrist, full trust again in the forehand. Some positive signs happened already in Estoril, and today I had the feeling that I was doing from time to time good damage with both forehand and backhand.”

Thiem will look to continue to put the pieces of the puzzle together as he takes on sixth seed Holger Rune in a second round clash on Wednesday.