Dominic Thiem’s charge to the Australian Open final has been six weeks in the making with the Austrian arriving in Australia before Christmas with his eye on the title.
Thiem will take on seven-time champion Serbian Novak Djokoivc in Sunday night’s title decider, with his coach Nicolas Massu saying the world No.5 has done all he can to prepare for his first final at Melbourne Park.
Thiem spent 10 days training on the Gold Coast and then moved to Brisbane before shifting to Sydney for the ATP Cup.
“We’re right here 20 of December – we are here in Australia one month and a half, practising, focusing on this tournament,” former world No.9 Chilean Massu said.
“Dominic was motivated to come early to prepare.
“Everyone knows that is difficult to play against Nole (Djokovic) because he’s unbelievable player but if Dominic is in the final it’s because he deserves it.”
Thiem has made the last two French Open finals – losing both to Rafael Nadal.
But Massu said 2019 results had given Thiem belief that he could also compete with the big guns on hard court such as world No.2 Djokovic.
He won his first ATP Masters 1000 title on the surface at Indian Wells and then came within a final-set tiebreak of lifting November’s ATP Finals trophy, falling to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
“I think the most important thing here is when you get experience and when you get confidence,” said Massu, who took over as coach last February.
“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.
“He start to play very, very solid on that surface and then he won in Vienna, finals in Masters in London, also Beijing.
“Sometimes small details make big difference but I think it’s confidence, that you believe you can play the same tennis in both surfaces. Why not?”
Thiem’s father Wolfgang addressed his son’s mid-Open split with former world No.1 and Austrian great Thomas Muster, with their coaching relationship lasting just two weeks.
Wolfgang said that at age 26, his son wanted to be his own player, not a copy of Muster.
“For me the most important thing is that the coach understands what the player needs and not that the coach wants to make a copy of himself,” Thiem senior said.
“I mean, Dominic is already 26 years, so he has his personality. This was for me the main point, that Dominic needs someone who gives him the space, who gives him the free space to develop, to play his game.”
