Thiem – 2-6 3-6 Federer – What was Dominic trying to do?

My title is What was Dominic trying to do?

The answer? I don’t know!

The performance from Dominic Thiem was simply bizarre, I just didn’t get it.

Before the match his coach Gunter Bresnik was talking to SkySports following a practice earlier on that day and said the plan is to be aggressive and I thought yes this is it, were in for a match!

What did we get?

Aggression with no plan.

It was horribly predictable, you could tell from one shot to another where Dominic was going. Where was the variety? Where was the drop shot? Where was the inside-in forehand? It was just poor.

When we talk about being aggressive anyone can stand there and hit the ball at 100mph with every shot but it makes no difference.

Aggression is one thing but using it wisely is a different ball game.

Thiem said in an interview I remember with Sky that tennis is going to the route of hitting it very hard and used Khachanov’ win in Paris as an example.

He was flat and needs to revisit his plan in the off-season as Pat Cash summed it up on Twitter as it works on clay but on hard courts he hasn’t really got a plan that works.

Image Credit – ATP / Sky Sports

Why inside the baseline on a first serve at 124mph, the return is then weak and lands short and Federer picks off the winner. It was too easy.

Has team progressed since 12 months ago? I don’t think so. On clay court he is so dangerous but he is better than a player who just competes in a few events on clay. He needs a re-visit on what his plan is soon.