"My self-confidence wasn't that high": Dominic Thiem looks to build after crisis of confidence with recent results

Austria’s tennis star Dominic Thiem has revealed the reasons why winning the first round of the European Open was not an easy task.

The 30-year-old defeated Italy’s Luca Nardi in the round of 32 clash of the competition with a score of 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Talking about it after the match, Thiem stated why it was not an easy outing, citing how he was struggling with a lack of confidence.

“The last weeks weren’t so easy,” he said. “I didn’t have great results. My self-confidence isn’t that high. That’s why it’s even more difficult against all those great players in those events. It wasn’t an easy first-round, but I was fighting through. Trying to build on that for the second-round.”

Thiem is coming in this tournament on the back of a disappointing outing in the Bratislava Open where he was knocked out of the competition after losing the round of 16 tie to Canada’s Gabriel Diallo with a score of 6-1, 4-6, 7-6.

The former world number three is now set to face off against Germany’s Yannick Hanfmann in the round of 16 tie on Wednesday.

This will be only the second time when these two players will face off on the tennis court. In the previous meeting, it was Hanfmann who came out on top in the quarterfinal of the Generali Open with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in 2022.