French Open 2023: Dominic Thiem confidence returning for Paris after 'inevitable' injury - 'My level is much better'

Dominic Thiem says he feels ready to compete at the top level again ahead of the French Open, after coming back from a major injury that he feels was “inevitable”. The Austrian won the US Open in 2020 and is a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, losing two finals at Roland-Garros — in 2018 and 2019 — and one at the Australian Open in 2020.

Ad Thiem was in a top-five ranked player until suffering a wrist injury in June 2021 that saw him plummet to outside the top 350, and he is still working his way back from the blow. Roland-GarrosFrench Open order of play, Day 1 — Sabalenka, Evans and Tsitsipas in first round action2 HOURS AGO Now up to 91st in the ATP rankings, the 29-year-old explained to the BBC that in hindsight suffering an injury that kept him out for 10 months was no surprise.

«I was always very lucky with my body because I was pushing it to the limit almost every day when I was young,» he said. «Because of all those strokes I did in my career up to then, it was inevitable something was going to happen at one point.

Now everything is well and the body feels great.” French Open order of play, Day 1 — Sabalenka, Evans and Tsitsipas in first round action Confident Gauff points to experience as advantage over peers at French Open Rune believes he is close to 'best tennis' and hopes to win French Open He added: „It was difficult for me to cope with — and unusual — because it was the first time I had been out injured for a long time. “In the first 10 weeks I was in a cast so couldn't do anything anyway — and then the struggles started when I began to play again.