WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 24, 2020

Dominic Thiem

Press Conference

F. KRAJINOVIC/D. Thiem

6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. On the scoreline, that was quite a surprise for us. Tell us about it from your perspective.

DOMINIC THIEM: Well, I mean, it was just a horrible game by myself. Didn't play well at all. Didn't get any rhythm.

Well, I felt like I didn't win any points on his serve. I had really troubles with returning. And, well, it's tough to understand right now, but, well, I will think about it, and hopefully I'll find better answers in the next days.

Q. Are you feeling fully fit?

DOMINIC THIEM: Yeah, yeah. I do, I do.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about your experiences here in New York? You had a great match with Rafa, a great match one time. Last year you got sick and you aren't able to play. It's been kind of an up-and-down tournament for you, hasn't it?

DOMINIC THIEM: It's been what? Sorry?

Q. An up-and-down tournament for you.

DOMINIC THIEM: Yeah, the only really down was last year. Before that, I always played well here from the first year I played here actually. Only last year was not such a nice experience.

But I hope that it's going to be better again this year. It's Cincinnati now and first match back after very long time, so it was really tough for me to play.

As I said, I didn't find any rhythm. But, yeah, in general, I like to play here, I have to say, and I hope it's going to be better next week.

Q. You will be playing again on this court, same courts next week. What do you think of the conditions? And compare it to the Australian Open in terms of the court speed.

DOMINIC THIEM: It's completely different to Australia. First of all, the balls are very different. The court is a little bit different here. And then the outside conditions are completely different. I mean, it's hot here, as well, but it's very, very humid all the time, while in Australia it's pretty dry.

So the conditions are very different to play, but in general, I like them also the last years. Most of the times I have played pretty well here.

Q. You mentioned on the return, not winning any points. Could you just not read his serve?

DOMINIC THIEM: I had troubles to just find the timing and to find the right position in the return, and then also from the beginning I had troubles with my service games, and then of course I lost confidence in the returns because I was struggling to get my own service game through.

And then of course the pressure grows in the return games. All this together sums up in these horrible stats.