Dominic Thiem admitted that he is “just not good enough at the moment” after a first-round exit at Roland Garros on Sunday.
“I was not struggling at all with my motivation, but [my] game was just not there today,” said Thiem, who lost to Pablo Andujar in five sets on Sunday. “All the shots were missing power. They were not accurate enough. I'm not moving well enough.”
Thiem, who completed the spring European clay swing with a 4-4 match record, said that he’d practised and competed well at the Mutua Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d’Italia, but struggled at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon.
“I was really practising well, super intense as well,” said Thiem. “[My] shots were there and [they] also got better in Madrid and Rome. But Lyon and here, [my] shots, how I moved and everything was just not the real me. It's just not good enough at the moment [and] it's a very tough situation.”
The 27-year-old, who lost in the Roland Garros first round for the first time in eight appearances, had previously finished as runner-up to Rafael Nadal in the 2018 and 2019 finals.
“It's kind of the first situation that I'm facing [this], because basically all my career, the past five, six, seven years, was [on the] way up all the time,” said Thiem. “I was sometimes dropped from [No.] 5 to 8 in the [FedEx ATP] Rankings, but never had losses like that, especially here [at] Roland Garros.
“Losing after being up two sets to [love] is very strange to me and I have to analyse it and think about what's wrong. And then of course try to hit back as soon as possible… It does feel very tough, as since 2016 I was used to playing very deep in this tournament.”
Thiem reiterated that it was “amazing to reach such a big goal” as capturing the 2020 US Open title, but “at the same time, something is different after".
The Austrian added, “It's a big learning process, and despite the loss, which hurts so much, I still hope I can bounce back stronger than before. But, right now I don't know when [that] moment is coming.”
“I was not struggling at all with my motivation, but [my] game was just not there today,” said Thiem, who lost to Pablo Andujar in five sets on Sunday. “All the shots were missing power. They were not accurate enough. I'm not moving well enough.”
Thiem, who completed the spring European clay swing with a 4-4 match record, said that he’d practised and competed well at the Mutua Madrid Open and Internazionali BNL d’Italia, but struggled at the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon.
“I was really practising well, super intense as well,” said Thiem. “[My] shots were there and [they] also got better in Madrid and Rome. But Lyon and here, [my] shots, how I moved and everything was just not the real me. It's just not good enough at the moment [and] it's a very tough situation.”
The 27-year-old, who lost in the Roland Garros first round for the first time in eight appearances, had previously finished as runner-up to Rafael Nadal in the 2018 and 2019 finals.
“It's kind of the first situation that I'm facing [this], because basically all my career, the past five, six, seven years, was [on the] way up all the time,” said Thiem. “I was sometimes dropped from [No.] 5 to 8 in the [FedEx ATP] Rankings, but never had losses like that, especially here [at] Roland Garros.
“Losing after being up two sets to [love] is very strange to me and I have to analyse it and think about what's wrong. And then of course try to hit back as soon as possible… It does feel very tough, as since 2016 I was used to playing very deep in this tournament.”
Thiem reiterated that it was “amazing to reach such a big goal” as capturing the 2020 US Open title, but “at the same time, something is different after".
The Austrian added, “It's a big learning process, and despite the loss, which hurts so much, I still hope I can bounce back stronger than before. But, right now I don't know when [that] moment is coming.”