By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday May 10, 2022
Dominic Thiem is competing with fire on the red clay this spring, but so far the results are not coming. The Austrian produced some great tennis on Monday night at the Foro Italico, but could not keep from falling in straight sets to Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 7-6(5).
But the effort showed signs of life from the former World No.3, who is now ranked 162 after missing the second half of 2021 and the first three months of 2022 with a wrist injury. He saved a match point at 4-5 in the second set and forced Fognini to a tiebreak.
“I'm really frustrated right now obviously,” Thiem said after dropping to 0-4 on the season. The 28-year-old has lost his last seven sets. “Well, things have improved again since Madrid. That's good. I looked at the stats after the first set on the big screen. Actually they are getting better and better.
“The first-serve percentage, first-serve wins, second-serve wins actually had better stats in the first set. Just zero out of three break points. I have to play better on those close points. That's what I did at 4-5 in the second when I came back. Yeah, then at 6-5 he played a great game with four first serves. I was hoping to break him there and get things going even better for me.”
Thiem says that his forehand is still not easy to hit under pressure. It’s clear that he is struggling to find his range with the shot, probably due to caution about putting too much strain on his wrist.
“Tiebreak was not good for me,” he concluded. “Obviously in the tiebreak you get a little bit tighter. That's where the forehand is still not there when things are getting tighter. That's the way it is now.”