ATP Masters in Madrid, 1st round, Monday, 02.05.2022
What could be better suited for a brilliant comeback than a prestigious Masters with a top line-up? The entire world elite has gathered in Madrid to gain confidence for the upcoming French Open.
Among them is a player who is having a hard time getting back into shape after a long injury break. So far, things haven’t really worked out yet, but will the knot finally burst in the Spanish capital? Read in my Murray Thiem tip why I expect a very close affair in this duel!
For Dominic Thiem, every match is currently a welcome opportunity to keep improving his form in small steps. Last June, the season was suddenly over, the elbow prevented further tournaments.
It finally took until the end of March before the Austrian could really return to the court. Since then, he has been struggling and showing promising signs, but he has not yet achieved any real successes.
The 28-year-old has played three matches and has never made it past the first round. With Benjamin Bonzi, John Millman and Pedro Cachin, he lost to players he would have beaten with half his strength just a year ago.
Experts and fellow players are sure: Thiem will come back and be his old self again. But when? Not even the former top star himself can answer that. The current world number 91 certainly likes Madrid.
In four participations he has always reached at least the semi-finals, twice he has even reached the final. However, he has never won. He knows what it’s like to go out in round 1: in 2016 against Juan Martin del Potro.
Dominic Thiem or Andy Murray, one of them will take the lead in the direct duel. In 2014 and 2015, long ago, the Scot won twice in three sets.
In 2017 and 2019, Thiem won, including a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory in Barcelona, his first and only success on clay. The bookmakers are not really sure about Thiem’s role as favourite this evening.
Something like 14 years ago when he won the tournament against Gilles Simon. He proved in 2016 that he can still do it in later years when he lost a close final in three sets to Novak Djokovic.
Andy Murray is not in top form these months, but he usually gets over the initial hurdle. At the beginning of January in Melbourne, before the Australian Open, he was eliminated in round 1 only once in 2022.
With Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Bublik, Jannik Sinner, Roberto Bautista Agut and Felix Auger-Aliassime, Murray was only eliminated against strong competition at the last tournaments, at whose level Thiem is not yet back at the moment.
My Murray Thiem tip
It is the duel of two players who have already celebrated the great successes in the tennis circus. While Andy Murray is in the late autumn of his career, Dominic Thiem is fighting his way back to top form in small steps.
But the last few tournaments have shown: It will probably take a while yet. Since his comeback, he has never made it past the first round. I have seen better results on Murray’s side.
The Scot has failed almost only when his opponent was a really big one this year and has not been knocked out in the opener since the beginning of January. So my tip for these two fighters is:
We see more than 20.5 Games!
