What Thiem’s Team Believes The Key To His Success Is Against Djokovic

Nicolas Massu and Wolfgang Thiem, Dominic Thiem’s coaches, spoke to the media on Saturday before the World No. 5 faces seven-time champion Novak Djokovic on Sunday in the Australian Open final. And Massu repeated one word five times to emphasise what he believes has been the key to his charge’s success: confidence.

“For me the most important thing is the confidence. You are alone in this sport. You have to take decisions,” Massu said. “If you win one tournament or you play one unbelievable tournament like Indian Wells, for example, then you believe that you can make big things.”

One year ago, Thiem lost in the second round at Melbourne Park. At that point, the Austrian was known for his clay-court prowess. But he won three of his five titles in 2019 on hard court, including his maiden ATP Masters 1000 triumph at the BNP Paribas Open. He also reached the championship match at the Nitto ATP Finals, which is played on hard court. According to Massu, the former World No. 9, all of those results have only increased Thiem’s confidence on the surface, leading to an even higher level.

“Indian Wells was a slow hard court. The bounce was really high. It’s perfect for him. But then he started to play very, very solid on that surface,” Massu said. “Then he won in Vienna, finals in Masters in London, also [winning] Beijing. He was playing really, really well. Sometimes small details make a big difference. But I think it’s confidence, that you believe you can play the same tennis on both surfaces.”

Thiem has been in Australia for well over a month, arriving early to train for the ATP Cup. At the inaugural 24-country event, Thiem lost two of his three matches. But the tough competition helped him build form, which translated into success in Melbourne, according to Wolfgang Thiem, his father, who is also one of his coaches.

“It was a good preparation because we came to Australia already on 20 of December to prepare. Then he played the ATP Cup. We worked a lot on the fitness in Miami in December, then [played] a lot of tennis in [Australia],” Wolfgang Thiem said. “At the ATP Cup he played some really good matches. He had a good win against [Diego] Schwartzman and this close loss against [Hubert] Hurkacz, then more days to prepare for this tournament. I think he’s increased match by match.”

It’s been an impressive run for the fifth seed at the season’s first Grand Slam, as Thiem has beaten World No. 1 Rafael Nadal and 2018 Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev in back-to-back matches to reach the final.

“It’s a big motivation to beat players like Nadal, No. 1 in the world, on the centre court in a Slam. [That] always make you so happy because you work for this,” Massu said. “Now he’s looking forward [to] the match for tomorrow. Everyone knows that is difficult to play against Nole because he’s an unbelievable player. But if Dominic is in the final, it’s because he deserves it.”

This isn’t Thiem’s first appearance in a Grand Slam final, falling short against Nadal in the championship match at Roland Garros in each of the past two years. He will hope what he has learned from those experiences will help against Djokovic on Sunday.

“Every time you play important matches like a final of a Slam, you get more experience. Dominic already played two… Of course that helps that you passed this situation before,” Massu said. “It doesn’t matter sometimes which Slam [you did it] because the surface changes, but the experience is that you go on court, you play against the best players in the world. I think he arrives with a lot of confidence.”

Djokovic leads Thiem 6-4 in their ATP Head2Head series, but the Austrian has won four of their past five matches.

“The three matches that I saw, at the end of the match, because of two, three balls, [the match] goes for one side or to the other one. The good thing [is] that they know each other. They played many times before. They also practise sometimes on the Tour. I think for sure they are very motivated both to win tomorrow,” Massu said. “For me the most important thing is that Dominic plays his game… I think he’s playing really well. I’m really happy the way he’s playing the past months.”

Massu and Thiem have been working together for less than a year. But Thiem is soaring to new heights, and he will climb to a career-high No. 3 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on Monday if he lifts the trophy.

“Before I started to work with his team, [as] a spectator, I always loved his tennis. It’s the tennis that I like. He’s an unbelievable, complete player,” Massu said. “For sure when I saw him play before and I started to work with him, I believed that he can have these kind of results because his shots and the speed of the ball is amazing. He’s a very complete player, also. I think that today the results are showing.”