Team Austria Senses Italians Will Be Formidable Foes
When Austria faces off against Italy in a Group C clash Tuesday night at Melbourne Park, don’t bet on plenty of hugs and “great to see you again” pleasantries. Matteo Berrettini, Italy’s No. 1, said he wasn’t looking forward to facing Dominic Thiem in his first match of the 2021 ATP Cup. And in his press conference in Melbourne Monday, Thiem said the anxiety is mutual.
“We have a very good relationship, always fun matches against each other,” Thiem said of the Italian alpha male. “But he's a big, big player, so I'm also not too happy that he's the first guy I have to face in a new year after quite a while without an official match. It's going to be interesting. I hope the guy next to me is putting away some pressure for me.”
The guy next to Thiem was his best friend, 27-year-old Dennis Novak, the World No. 100, who is also coached by Thiem’s father, Wolfgang, Austria’s ATP Cup captain. Novak lost his only career match to Fabio Fognini, in a lopsided affair in Kitzbühel, but that was on clay more than five years ago.
“I have two tough opponents with Fabio (Fognini) and Benoit (Paire),” Novak said. “I played both of them already, so I know what I can expect. But I'm very (much) looking forward (to it). We prepared really well. I think it's a good preparation for the (Australian Open) also.”
Wolfgang Thiem said he was pleased with his team’s preparedness for the event. “We were preparing well in the last two weeks,” he said. “So (I’m) looking forward for interesting matches. I mean, we have all the 12 nations there, (and) the teams are really, really strong, the best players (are here). So, from the first match on, it will be really close. We, all the team, have to compete on a really high level.”
Thiem and Berrettini have a 2-2 career ATP Head2Head record, with the Italian prevailing on hard courts at the Nitto ATP Finals and in Shanghai, both in 2019. Thiem beat Berrettini at Roland Garros in 2018 and in Vienna in 2019. The Austrian, No. 3 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, said that he expects a tight match.
“Well, I mean, our head-to-head is tied two all,” he said. “Towards the end of 2019 we had three amazing matches in deep stages of big tournaments, (that were) high quality. I’m looking forward to playing him again.”
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3j4C2So
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