Thiem a future top 10?

future top 10?


  • Total voters
    65
  • Poll closed .

firepanda

Professional
He handled Nadal excellently. He stood far too far back, but otherwise he did an excellent job of topping Nadal's top and playing aggressively when he could. It was just wasn't a fantastic match up, a lack of big match experience and a difference in levels.

He seriously needs to tidy up his volleys though. Some of them were atrocious.
 

cknobman

Legend
He did not look like anything special at all.

Sure he strikes the ball well at times but his court positioning is terrible and he really needs to learn tactics and playing his opponent.
 

Sander001

Hall of Fame
He did not look like anything special at all.

Sure he strikes the ball well at times but his court positioning is terrible and he really needs to learn tactics and playing his opponent.

Not convinced. Didn't impress me vs average looking Nadal.

I don't think he's top 10 material..

He is going nowhere if he can't handle an opponent who moonballs.
Quoting for posterity.
 

jm1980

Talk Tennis Guru
Based on stretches of the match I saw today? Maybe Top 20.
He's still young though, plenty of time to make adjustments. I won't write him off yet.

Though they were saying the same things about Tomic, Dimitrov, Dolgo, and countless others before him. So history tells us it might be a while before a real contender changes the status quo.
 

jm1980

Talk Tennis Guru
Thiem played the best tennis in his life and still got destroyed 2 2 and 3. :lol:

Maybe it was when I watched, but all I saw was Thiem brainlessly bashing balls he had no business bashing, and then losing the point when they went out by least 5 metres.

Thiem.png
 
N

Nathaniel_Near

Guest
It's so easy to be hard on this upcoming player who happened to lose in straight sets to... the best tennis player on clay ever?

Thiem just couldn't find the answers but not for lack of effort. Maybe Thiem did start ball bashing but he must have been thinking what the HELL do I do against this guy? He learned what it is to face Rafa on clay.
 

tacou

G.O.A.T.
Wow took less than 1 post for this thread to go nowhere.

As for Thiem, I was very impressed. He seems to have a very well rounded game, fitness and strength seem to the two major areas he'll have to work on and in 2-3 years I could definitely see him in the top 10.

It was 4am, admittedly, but I feel like he's got a pretty big take back for the backhand. How is he on HC and/or grass?
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Wow took less than 1 post for this thread to go nowhere.

As for Thiem, I was very impressed. He seems to have a very well rounded game, fitness and strength seem to the two major areas he'll have to work on and in 2-3 years I could definitely see him in the top 10.

It was 4am, admittedly, but I feel like he's got a pretty big take back for the backhand. How is he on HC and/or grass?

Grass will be tough to call until he does the tune-ups and SW19. HCs there's more to analyze from track record...he made QFs as a WC on indoor HC @Vienna'13 and took JWT to a decisive TB before losing. He also qualied at 7 of 8 ATP events this year, starting at Doha; most were on HC, including AO where he lost 2R to Anderson. The Murray match in Rotterdam (granted indoors) showed what he's capable of on HC.

I think he keeps improving and makes top 10 in '15, at the latest '16. Gilbert calls him top 5!
 

bjsnider

Hall of Fame
Looks like he has the raw game for it. Needs a lot of fitness work and seasoning. Several years at least.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Looks like he has the raw game for it. Needs a lot of fitness work and seasoning. Several years at least.

Fitness? His trainer is Sepp Resnik, deemed by many as the Simon Legree of fitness gurus. Check the routine out they do together (links in the PMR "Thiem next top 10" thread).

If he look tired today, it might be lingering symptoms from the stomach virus he caught in Madrid a month ago (lost 5 kgs).
 

bjsnider

Hall of Fame
Fitness? His trainer is Sepp Resnik, deemed by many as the Simon Legree of fitness gurus. Check the routine out they do together (links in the PMR "Thiem next top 10" thread).

If he look tired today, it might be lingering symptoms from the stomach virus he caught in Madrid a month ago (lost 5 kgs).

He's not strong enough. I include that under the umbrella of fitness.
 

newpball

Legend
Read the link...Sepp has him carrying huge logs through the forest to build his strength. The kid is fit as a fiddle, save for the recent virus.
Tennis is not a triathlon.

Clearly he was not fit enough to stay focused. After 3-1 in the last set his play was dismal with lots of unforced errors. Carrying even more logs through the forest will not fix that on the contrary it will only increase his risk of injury.

It is pretty stupid actually, carrying logs through the forest! If he breaks his ankle really bad his career is over.

Think people, think!

:grin:
 
He looked ok today, but after pulling out after the big win from illness, and no real match play coming into RG he looked a little off. I think he let the stage and opponent get to him a little, and he def tried to overplay everything he hit/ his touch was off.
 

helloworld

Hall of Fame
Stop making excuses for the poor boy. The fact is he ran into the Freak of nature and he had no answer. He still needs to improve tremendously to play with the big boys. Is he a potential top 10 player? Yes, he is! Is he the next Federer? Sadly, no.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Tennis is not a triathlon.

Clearly he was not fit enough to stay focused. After 3-1 in the last set his play was dismal with lots of unforced errors. Carrying even more logs through the forest will not fix that on the contrary it will only increase his risk of injury.

It is pretty stupid actually, carrying logs through the forest! If he breaks his ankle really bad his career is over.

Think people, think!

:grin:

You can break your ankle playing slams (ReboundAce at AO) and MS1000's (M-C holes in court) but players play. I don't agree with Sepp's training tactics but he's got Thiem well conditioned. If stamina had anything to do with his late-match performance, it probably is a result of the recent virus. He was playing better at the end of his victory vs Wawa in high-altitude Madrid. That was three longer sets than today.
 

newpball

Legend
You can break your ankle playing slams (ReboundAce at AO) and MS1000's (M-C holes in court) but players play.
You can, you can break your ankle in many ways.

But the question is do you try to make your training environment as safe as possible or are you going to look for the unknown and run more chances of getting injured?

If stamina had anything to do with his late-match performance, it probably is a result of the recent virus. He was playing better at the end of his victory vs Wawa in high-altitude Madrid. That was three longer sets than today.
Instead of running with blocks of wood in the forest I think he needs more reflex training. He is fast on the court going from A to B but his 'body language' can and should become faster.

How can you expect a player to become elite level if he takes his vanilla shots way after the bounce? Top tennis is all about pace, extremely high pace. Newcomers often hit as hard as the top but they cannot handle the pace of elite players, that plus the 'killer' instinct are the main differentiators. Clearly that is what Thiem's team should focus on, plus his serve needs work as well.

These things seems pretty obvious to me you don't have to be an expert to see that.

So skip the 'survival' training and train in the gym just like everybody else and focus on dealing with pace and learn how to take the ball earlier in the vanilla shots.
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
^^^I'm sure Camp Bresnik will have tactics you are discussing on the agenda when they reconvene for plotting Dominic's course through the grass "season" and beyond. The little I've seen of him on HCs (highlights only vs Tsonga @Vienna, Murray @Rotterdam and Sousa @AO), he does attack the ball earlier so it just might be a clay strategy flaw.
 

Sid_Vicious

G.O.A.T.
Last edited:

SLD76

G.O.A.T.
To me he seemed to lack tactics. He stood way too far behind the baseline against Rafa and didn't seem to have studied the game plan laid out by djoker and Ferrer....attack the backhand. Also he seemed unprepared for rafa's amazing retrieval skills, thinking he hit a clear winner only to be out of position for the next shot.

I did notice he tried to take the ball earlier and stand on the baseline in the second ser and 2 as able to move rafa around a bit. But in the end he was overmatched.

Still kid has game and talent. Definitely one to watch.
 

Polvorin

Professional
Not if my opponent had the heaviest forehand on tour.

These are moon-balls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEvq8ybeyzg

These are heavy forehands
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY35r0G9EU0#t=53


Anyways, it doesn't look good for the ATP tour since half the players, including Federer, think moonball man has the best forehand.

Hey that style of play got Wozniacki to the #1 ranking as well. Definitely a similarity there. In the age of poly strings and babolat rocket launchers it is unquestionably the best tactic.
 

Sid_Vicious

G.O.A.T.
Hey that style of play got Wozniacki to the #1 ranking as well. Definitely a similarity there. In the age of poly strings and babolat rocket launchers it is unquestionably the best tactic.


It's amusing to read posts from tennis fans with zero perspective about the game.

"Poly strings and babolat rocket launchers". Umm, I don't even know what that means. Poly strings are used by every guy and his mom now, including Federer and Djokovic who use their Wilson and Head rocket launchers, respectively, to hit heavy loopy forehands, which when Nadal hits would be absurdly classified as "moonballs"
 
Last edited:

citybert

Hall of Fame
The way he goes for his shots and with thay 1BH he looks a lot like Blake and think hos career will be pretty similar. Maybe a step up so should be top ten easy.
 
Top