Austrian Dominic Thiem, former top 3 and currently 91st in the world, made his debut on the right foot, this Monday, at the ATP 250 in Estoril, Portugal, a clay court competition with a prize pool of 579 thousand euros.
The Austrian passed the German Maximilian Marterer, 97th placed, with odds of 6/1 6/7 (7/3) 6/4 after 2h14min and will face the Frenchman Richard Gasquet, former top 7 and current 122nd, who entered as lucky- loser after the departure of Spaniard Alejandro Fokina, who was the fourth favorite, due to a tooth infection.
Thiem styled Eric Cantona, the famous former French football player, with collars suspended throughout his match.
“I was more confident, my game flowed more. I stopped comparing myself to the past, I try to do my best in the face of the situation”, said the tennis player who revealed that he had recently returned from a wrist injury, but pointed out: “I have increased the intensity in training so far which is good. It’s day after day, we are working with the physio every day, I stay calm, I don’t play tomorrow, which helps, I’ll be ready for Wednesday. Every week can be the turning point, As I said, I’m in a situation where I need to do my best, there’s no point in comparing myself to 2019 or 2022, I’m trying my best, today was a good victory and I’ll try to do something similar on Wednesday”.
