"I feel that I'm on the right track again": Thiem takes positives from French Open first round loss as comeback continues

Former Roland Garros finalist Dominic Thiem is out of the event after losing in the first round to Pedro Cachin but he's staying positive and upbeat despite the most recent disappointment.

It's been a long time since Dominic Thiem's wrist injury but even after all of this time, the Austrian hasn't been able to find his best tennis. He has moments here and there when he plays really well but for the most part, it's been rather poor with his latest performance not far from that. He was easily outplayed by Cachin in the first two sets of their match after which he started to play better winning the next two sets. Still, Cachin held on to win in five sets.

Speaking after the match, Thiem said that he feels he's on the right track:

"Yeah, I was, well, changing perspectives again and then changing my attitude again towards the game from, like, well thinking about or thinking of giving 100 percent, but not really doing it again. That's what changed. The last six weeks were really good. But, yeah, obviously it's not enough yet to play well, to play well in a tournament like that. But, yeah, again, I feel that I'm on the right track again. Today I just failed to reward myself. Yeah, it's just I have to continue."

On the match itself, Thiem said:

"I didn't start well at all. How should I say, I was very tight. What I was expecting I had very, very good practice sets, but most of the times in the first real match it's not that easy, and that's what happened. I was fighting back great, starting to play a bit better. And then, yeah, I missed to do the last step, to reward myself, to give myself a chance to play a second round maybe a little bit looser. I was not able to do it. Yeah, that's how it is now."