Paris (AP) – Dominic Thiem suffered a very painful first-round defeat at the French Open. The Paris finalist from 2018 and 2019 lost without a hitch to the Bolivian Hugo Dellien 3: 6, 2: 6, 4: 6 and is still waiting for his first win since his comeback.
The 28-year-old Austrian only returned to the tennis tour in March after a nine-month break due to a wrist injury. But Thiem is currently miles away from his old form, in which he won the US Open in the final against Alexander Zverev in 2020. Against Dellien he conceded the seventh defeat in a row.
“It hurts,” said Thiem after the bitter appearance on the Simonne Mathieu court. “To be honest, I was a long way from winning in the previous games,” said the Austrian, deeply disappointed. “Things are going quite well in training, but there’s still a lot missing in the match. I have to be patient.” Next, the former world number three is planning a start at the slightly smaller Challenger tournament in Perugia in two weeks.