By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday March 16, 2021
The Thiem dream has become a bit of a nightmare in 2021. The Austrian has struggled out of the gates and been bogged down by a foot issue over the last three months, and after his straight-sets loss to Lloyd Harris today, he says he needs a total reset.
He says he won’t play Miami because he’s not in the right place mentally or physically to keep playing on the hard courts.
“I really just need to reset myself a little bit, to really go fresh into the clay season,” Thiem told reporters after his loss to Harris on Tuesday in Dubai. “Obviously right now, I’m in a tough period, and it just wouldn’t be the right thing to go to Miami, but just to make a little reset, regroup and then hopefully have a good clay season. That is, after these tough weeks, my main goal now.”
Dominic Thiem still not looking great in 2021, loses his first match in Dubai against the in-form qualifier Lloyd Harris, 6-3, 6-4.Thiem doesn’t look close to 100% physically, won’t play till Monte Carlo.
Dominic is 5-4 this year…
[getty] pic.twitter.com/HMFOAFKomm
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) March 16, 2021
Tennis Now asked the World No.4 if he might need time to heal his injury before he resumes his training and the 27-year-old Austrian said the foot isn’t that big of an issue.
“Well, for example today there was no pain at all in the foot,” he said. “It’s a little bit on and off.”
But Thiem did say that he’ll likely have an MRI to make sure that everything is in working order.
“Maybe I’ll do a quick check, a quick MRI, to see how that thing is developing, but it’s not really the main issue,” he said. “It’s just that I’m not playing well, that in general it’s quite a tough period for me, so I need to see that I’m just starting fresh and really ready for the first clay tournament, wherever I’m going to play.”
Theim drops to 5-4 on the season and only won one of 30 first-serve return points against Harris on Tuesday. The Austrian has now lost three of four matches since defeating Nick Kyrgios in a dramatic five-setter in the third round at the Australian Open.