Thiem on receiving criticism and doubts during comeback: “French Open was the absolute low point”

Dominic Thiem is starting to look his best recently but there were times when doubt about his comeback was at an all-time high.

It hasn't been an easy season for Thiem who pushed his return date several weeks before finally making it on clay in Europe. It was a slow grind for the Austrian who suffered multiple early exits before finally winning a couple of matches.

He found his footing indoors recently with some strong performances and a win over top-10 calibre player Hubert Hurkacz in Antwerp. Discussing his year in Vienna ahead of the event there, Thiem said:

"The French Open was the absolute low point, where I can understand all the critics. It was horrible how I played there. I had my doubts because before that there were a few months of full training. I saw in training that I'm far away and I can't win a set against the good guys."

He explained how he worked really hard after Paris and that's when things finally started to click again. It felt familiar for Thiem:

"The long training block after Paris was important. That's when it clicked, and I noticed that it feels better now, a bit like it used to. The first win on the tour in Bastad and then the first quarterfinals were extremely important. That's when I saw that I can win against better players again. From then on it went in the right direction again most of the time."