Dominic Thiem arrived at the Masters 1000 Madrid Open fresh from winning the Barcelona Open. Getty Images
Dominic Thiem arrived at the Masters 1000 Madrid Open fresh from winning the Barcelona Open. Getty Images
Dominic Thiem arrived at the Masters 1000 Madrid Open fresh from winning the Barcelona Open. Getty Images
Dominic Thiem arrived at the Masters 1000 Madrid Open fresh from winning the Barcelona Open. Getty Images

Dominic Thiem interview: Toppling Rafael Nadal as French Open champion the ultimate goal


Reem Abulleil
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Dominic Thiem describes the phenomenon of Rafael Nadal on clay as “non plus ultra” – an extreme point that no man can reach beyond.

But the Austrian is reminding himself that he has also become tough to defeat on the surface as he heads to this month’s French Open brimming with confidence.

Since the start of 2016, Thiem is the only player to beat Nadal on clay at least once each year.

Fresh off of his biggest clay title in Barcelona last month, where he didn’t drop a set and took out Nadal in the semi-finals, Thiem cut a relaxed figure in the game room at the Caja Magica in Madrid on Sunday.

“If I see my results on clay the last years, they are very, very good,” Thiem, 25, said as he discussed his credentials on the red dirt.

“Two times finals here [in Madrid], two semis and a final Roland Garros, and I know myself how tough it is to get to these deep stages.

“I’m trying to stay relaxed because it can happen that I lose here first round or second round and still play well because these tournaments are so strong, and Roland Garros is the same.

“I try to tell myself that I’m tough to beat on this surface and if I’m 100 per cent, and if I’m fully pumped, then it’s difficult to beat me. That’s how I approach these tournaments.”

Thiem and Roger Federer were the only players to win more than one title this season before Sunday when they were joined by Cristian Garin and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Thiem upset Federer in the Indian Wells final to lift his first Masters 1000 trophy in March, and the progress he has made on hard courts – he reached his first non-clay grand slam quarter-final at the US Open last year – has only added to his confidence.

“I think Indian Wells was just amazing because I came from a very tough period. I had just split up with my coach,” said Thiem, who began 2019 with a 3-4 win-loss in his first four events.

“I somehow freed myself and I won the tournament. I didn’t know how or why that happened, so that was amazing - my first 1000 title, I didn’t expect it.”

Dominic Thiem with the Indian Wells trophy after beating Roger Federer in the final. Reuters
Dominic Thiem with the Indian Wells trophy after beating Roger Federer in the final. Reuters

It should come as no surprise that winning Roland Garros represents Thiem's biggest goal this season. Clinching any grand slam would do, he says, but he is aware that the French Open is where his chances are highest.

Defending and 11-time champion Nadal is likely to be one of Thiem's biggest obstacles and the Spaniard has won each of their three meetings at Roland Garros in straight sets, including their first ever meeting and last year's final.

Less than two years after their first encounter, Thiem levelled the rivalry at one-win each by beating Nadal in Buenos Aires on clay. Nadal has won eight of their 12 matches in total, although Thiem has won two of the past four.

“Mentally it was very important to beat him in Buenos Aires even though I knew he wasn’t playing his best tennis," Thiem said. "But every time you beat the top guys it’s very important mentally because if you do it once, you can also do it more times.

“I try to go into these matches against these guys with 100 per cent belief to win. That is the most important.”

Even so, Thiem is aware that defeating Nadal at tour events is one thing - overcoming him in a best-of-five match in Paris is a whole different beast.

Dominic Thiem after beating Rafael Nadal in the Barcelona Open semi-final. EPA
Dominic Thiem after beating Rafael Nadal in the Barcelona Open semi-final. EPA

However, there are many question marks surrounding the Mallorcan this year as he returns from another knee injury that forced him to withdraw ahead of his semi-final in Indian Wells.

The 17-time major champion has lost twice on clay so far this season, in the semi-finals of Monte Carlo and Barcelona, and it is the first time that Nadal has not won a title in the first four months of a season since 2004.

“I don’t think it’s so much different. It’s already really amazing how he plays after taking some time off after being injured. The further the clay court season goes, the better he will play,” Thiem said.

“It’s still something different to play him in Roland Garros, on Philippe Chatrier [Court] in best-of-five, than in any other tournament best-of-three. That’s one big step.

“Of course I will try everything to win that tournament and maybe beat him there, but it’s very tough. I was pretty far from that until now but it’s time to improve.

“But also I’m a better player than last year so that’s what I’m counting on the most.”

Six large-scale objects on show
  • Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
  • The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
  • A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
  • Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
  • A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
  • Torrijos Palace dome
Mina Cup winners

Under 12 – Minerva Academy

Under 14 – Unam Pumas

Under 16 – Fursan Hispania

Under 18 – Madenat

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Hili 2: Unesco World Heritage site

The site is part of the Hili archaeological park in Al Ain. Excavations there have proved the existence of the earliest known agricultural communities in modern-day UAE. Some date to the Bronze Age but Hili 2 is an Iron Age site. The Iron Age witnessed the development of the falaj, a network of channels that funnelled water from natural springs in the area. Wells allowed settlements to be established, but falaj meant they could grow and thrive. Unesco, the UN's cultural body, awarded Al Ain's sites - including Hili 2 - world heritage status in 2011. Now the most recent dig at the site has revealed even more about the skilled people that lived and worked there.

Gender pay parity on track in the UAE

The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.

"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."

Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.

"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.

As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general. 

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About Karol Nawrocki

• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.

• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.

• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.

• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.

Company%20profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinFlx%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202021%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Amr%20Yussif%20(co-founder%20and%20CEO)%2C%20Mattieu%20Capelle%20(co-founder%20and%20CTO)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%20in%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20size%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241.5m%20pre-seed%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Venture%20capital%20-%20Y%20Combinator%2C%20500%20Global%2C%20Dubai%20Future%20District%20Fund%2C%20Fox%20Ventures%2C%20Vector%20Fintech.%20Also%20a%20number%20of%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
House-hunting

Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove

  1. Edinburgh, Scotland 
  2. Westminster, London 
  3. Camden, London 
  4. Glasgow, Scotland 
  5. Islington, London 
  6. Kensington and Chelsea, London 
  7. Highlands, Scotland 
  8. Argyll and Bute, Scotland 
  9. Fife, Scotland 
  10. Tower Hamlets, London 

 

About Housecall

Date started: July 2020

Founders: Omar and Humaid Alzaabi

Based: Abu Dhabi

Sector: HealthTech

# of staff: 10

Funding to date: Self-funded

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets