The Austrian tennis star revealed this and more in a fancast on American website Essential game on the way there. In Hamburg, Thiem also wants to have his damaged right knee examined more closely. “I have been struggling with this for over a year, but with adrenaline and pressure I have handled it quite well. But it’s a bit nerve-wracking,” Thiem admitted. The Lichtenwurther native requires a lot of fitness training and running and will also spend a lot of time on hard courts in the first few months of 2024. Therefore a good structure is very important. “I’ll try to stay pain-free in the off-season,” Thiem said.
He also spent time with his family and reading the first parts of the Arnold Schwarzenegger documentary on Netflix. Next week Thiem will head to the island, more precisely a small Greek island, where he will vacation for a week. “The temperature there is 15 degrees, there is good air, the sea and good Greek food.” Thiem also revealed that he has been meditating almost every day for some time. “Today there are so many distractions like telephone, TV. “It helped me to do nothing for a while.”
At the FanCast, Thiem also had to talk about his behind in response to various comments on the Internet, but he was also able to laugh about it. The big topic was sustainability. Thiem has been an advocate of closeness to nature and nature conservation for some time. The many different tennis balls on tour, as well as the recent big discussion about their declining quality, could perhaps even be used to make “balls from balls”, says Thiem.
From a sporting perspective, the Lower Austrian hopes to regain his momentum in preparation for the season at the end of the year. “And then at full strength for Australia. I hope I continue to have a good season. The second half of this year has been much better, I want to play like this for the whole year.” When a fan asked him if he believed he could ever play as well as he did when winning his major title in New York in 2020, Thiem was optimistic: “Yes, I think so. I have my stroke and my strength back. Now it is about settling down again and gaining confidence.”
In 2019, Thiem spoke about doping in tennis and his game Said to be clean. Does he still believe so, given that Simona Halep is currently serving a four-year ban? “We are checked very often. Every drink I drink makes me scared. We do blood and urine tests at six in the morning or ten in the evening, often twice a week. I think tennis is pretty neat.”
