Dominic Thiem will skip Miami to prepare for his favourite season, the one on clay where he wants to knock off Nadal in Paris.
Five wins and four losses, including a round of 16 exit at the Australian Open by Grigor Dimitrov, a quarter-final exit in Doha against Roberto Bautista Agut and a disappointing performance against Lloyd Harris this week in Dubai. This is the assessment of the beginning of the 2021 season of Dominic Thiem who is clearly looking for his best sensations as he explained on Tuesday evening after his defeat against the pupil of our compatriot Xavier Malisse. "I am sad about this defeat. I had a lot of problems with my serve. I made a lot of unforced errors that are unusual for me. I will have to work in the next few days to change this dynamic. I have to learn to relax a little bit to be really fresh for the clay court season. Obviously, I can't deny it, I'm in a difficult phase right now. That's why I decided to skip the Miami Masters 1000. I'm not at my best. I'm not in good enough shape right now. I need to boost myself a bit, to get into the clay court season."