Reigning US Open champion Dominic Thiem ran out of gas in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, as he fell to 12th seed Diego Schwartzman in an exciting five-set marathon.
Although he he led by two sets to one, the World No.3 was unable to finish the job as Schwartzman mounted a furious comeback that saw him emerge with a 7-6(1) 5-7 6-7(6) 7-6(5) 6-2 victory.
“To be honest, I was over the limit today,” Thiem said. “Maybe I would have recovered for the semi-finals. Even though I'm physically and mentally on the edge, you never know in a Slam, especially with tomorrow and Thursday off, two full days to recover. You never know what would happen. But at the end I gave everything I had out there.
It was an amazing match. I think the first in my career over five hours. Diego fully deserves it.”
After claiming his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open two weeks ago, Thiem competed on clay for the first time since the ATP Tour was suspended. However, it seemed the Austrian did not have much left in the tank as the tournament progressed.
“I just tried to do everything I could on the days off to recover. I also tried something new, which I haven’t done before,” Thiem said. “Before the Round of 16, I did nothing the whole day. I just tried to be on 100 per cent again.”
Thiem fell short of reaching his fifth consecutive Roland Garros semifinal, as he was unable to summon any reserves in the five-hour epic. Nonetheless, he seemed pleased with his performance considering the unique circumstances.
“I'm not sad with my performance here at Roland Garros. It was a pretty short time with the long trip home, jet lag and everything. Then, of course this came after I won my first Slam, which is a special thing,” Thiem said. “I came here, played in pretty brutal conditions, I would say. I cannot say it was a bad tournament, I'm pretty happy about it.”
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