"I knew it was going to take time" - Thiem after round one exit at Roland Garros

Dominic Thiem was easily beaten by Hugo Dellien in the first round of Roland Garros making his win/loss record after coming back 0-6.

Thiem missed close to a year due to a wrist injury which he reinjured during the rehab process prolonging his comeback even further. Since returning Thiemm has been losing matches rather easily and another come came in Paris. After the match, he said:

“I knew that it was going to take time, that the level is extremely high from all the players competing here and I'm not there yet. I was really working hard to get there but the time was just not enough."

He continued:

“I have to accept it and even though it was [a] really painful defeat now, week after week, it's still nothing unexpected happened. If I would have won many matches or whatever, would have been a big surprise. So it's painful, I'm very disappointed, but it goes on.”

Asked whether it was something physical still, Thiem quickly shut that down:

“Zero physical issues. I also have no mental problems with the forehand, I'm not scared or anything, but the problem is that, practise was really decent already with the forehand but then [the] match situation is something different. I'm obviously a little bit more tight, more nervous and obviously the whole body gets more tight, gets more nervous and right now that's toxic to my forehand because I'm still missing the fine feeling there, I'm missing it a lot.”

He finished off his French Open press conference by saying:

“The key is just to be patient, continue being patient, work on the stuff which is not working and then it will come back, but it will take time. I cannot say now I'm disappointed, I'll work hard for a week and then next tournament I'm playing super well. I have to be patient and I think it's going to take a few more months until I can really say, okay, now I'm ready to beat those top guys again.”