Thiem celebrates opening victory at Djokovic tournament

His opponent Damir Dzumhur had to give up on Saturday afternoon when the score was 2-0 for Thiem. The Bosnian was treated on his right thigh after just two points. “It’s a real shame, I was looking forward to a great match,” said Thiem in the “on court” interview. “I'll be happy if I can play again today. I hope it takes a little longer.” In the evening it will be against the Serb Dusan Lajovic. The local hero lost the first game of the day against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 3:4, 4:3, 1:4. Special rules The game is played on four winning games per set and “best of three”, with a tiebreak at 3:3. In addition, the “no ad” rule applies, so there is no advantage (Advantage, editor’s note). At 40:40 the receiver can choose which side he wants to return from.

If, as expected, Dimitrov wins against Dzumhur in the evening, Thiem and Dimitrov may fight for group victory on Sunday. The other group includes the Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic and the German Alexander Zverev, the third top ten player in this event. Thiem against Djokovic could be the final on Sunday evening.

The spectators in the stands sit close together. © APA/afp / ANDREJ ISAKOVIC

Djokovic launched the event in the “Novak Tennis Center” in the Serbian capital, and players like Thiem were flown in by private jet. From the start, the atmosphere in the facility located on the Danube gave no indication that this was an exhibition tournament during a pandemic. There were only a few seats available, the audience sat close together, and 1.000 tickets were sold within seven minutes. Serbia has more than 12.200 coronavirus cases and 253 people have died from or with the virus.

Thiem is only playing this weekend on the Adria Tour, which is scheduled to take place over four weekends in four different countries. The 26-year-old, third in the world rankings, has announced next weekend and the weekend after that for the “Ultimate Tennis Showdown” in Biot near Nice at the academy run by longtime Serena Williams coach Patrick Mouratoglou. The start on Saturday was literally canceled due to rain, and the scheduled games are now scheduled to be played on Monday after those on Sunday.

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Thiem celebrates opening victory at Djokovic tournament

Austria's tennis star Dominic Thiem won his opening match at the Adria Tour in Belgrade, which has a “charity factor”, but has not yet received the match practice he had hoped for.

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