ATP Tournament in Winston-Salem, 1st round, Tuesday, 23.08.2022
It’s the last, really very last step before the big US Open! While some stars are already in New York, others have travelled to Winston-Salem to recharge their batteries.
Among them is one who has achieved the greatest success of his career on American soil. Dominic Thiem finally wants to get back to his old ways! After all, he and his opponent are almost tied at Bwin. In my Thiem Wolf tip, however, I reveal why I see the younger player in the lead!
The results are getting better, but Dominic Thiem is not even close to his former world class level. The comeback after the serious injury, it takes and takes and takes.
After losing to Yannick Hanfmann in the quarter-finals in Kitzbühel at the end of July, an illness put him out of action. Now he is back and wants to show in Winston-Salem how much he has already improved.
Exactly a decade ago he made his debut at this tournament, but as a No Name he was eliminated in the qualification. This time, the number 231 is allowed to start in the main draw, but of course he will face an opponent with a better name.
J. J. Wolf is ranked 87th, but our bookmakers have quite similar odds for this difference. 2.00 to 1.80? The Austrian is not as far behind as you might think!
It’s a special tournament Thiem is playing on Tuesday night German time, because he hasn’t served on hard court since March 2021! So it remains to be seen how well he will do here at all.
By the way, if Thiem manages to win against J.J. Wolf, he will have a tough time. Grigor Dimitrov, the No. 1 seed, would be waiting! An opponent who is probably still far too strong.
But first of all, the Viennese just wants to get through the first round. If only it weren’t for the good results of his opponent, which he has certainly also noticed. J. J. Wolf, 23, was last eliminated in Cincinnati against Emil Rusuuvuori.
Before that, however, he showed his talent in Washington, and how. He beat Denis Shapovalov and Holger Rune, but only lost to Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals. With Wolf it is a game between genius and madness.
On good days he can hurt any opponent in the world, on bad days his nerves fail him against outsiders. It is clear that Dominic Thiem hopes to be in the second category on Tuesday.
Wolf is therefore a candidate for the special moments that hardly anyone expects. For him it is the premiere in Winston-Salem, of course the fans there are especially looking forward to the performances of their players.
My Thiem Wolf Tip
How is he doing now, this Dominic Thiem? He’s now had to take another four weeks off before each of his last tournaments, so unfortunately he hasn’t been able to continue working on his rhythm.
It will be an interesting comeback on hard court, because he has not played a match on this surface for one and a half years. His opponent on Tuesday is far ahead of him in the world rankings, but only marginally so at the bookmakers.
In my analysis I could see that J. J. Wolf plays absolutely unpredictable. Qualitatively, he is just ahead of Thiem in my eyes, and he is also very well practised on hard court. Therefore, my betting recommendation at the end is:
Wolf wins against Thiem!
