Spiral continues for former star
Thiem falls on opening day in Paris
PARIS — It all used to come so easily for Dominic Thiem on a tennis court — his powerful forehand, his elegant backhand, his hit-which-shotwhen calculations, all finetuned to the point of a title at the U.S. Open and three other Grand Slam final appearances, including two at Roland Garros.
Nowadays, even though the pain from last year’s torn tendon in his right wrist is no longer there, the strokes and, most disconcertingly, the wherewithal, are not what they once were, to the extent that his first-round exit at the French Open on Sunday was his 10th consecutive loss.
The situation has become dire enough that Thiem, once ranked No. 3 but now No. 194, acknowledged after being beaten 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 by Hugo Dellien that perhaps it’s time for him to head to the lower-level Challenger Tour to get a win and gain some confidence.
“Today, he wasn’t at his top level of the past, but I still needed to beat him,” Dellien said. “It’s an important step in my career.”
Given Thiem’s troubles, there were other results that probably were more surprising.
Chiefly in that category would be No. 6 seed Ons
Jabeur’s 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 loss to 56th-ranked Magda Linette.
Another top-10 women’s seed — and the 2016 champion at the place — was sent home when Garbiñe Muguruza was defeated 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 by 46th-ranked Kaia Kanepi. Muguruza beat Serena Williams in the final at Roland Garros six years ago and Venus Williams in the final at Wimbledon in 2017, but she now has lost her opening match in Paris two straight years.
Avoiding that sort of result was the men’s No. 9 seed, Felix Auger-aliassime, who took care of two missing items on his resume in one afternoon: He picked up a French Open victory for the first time in three tries and he won a match after dropping the opening two sets.
The 20-year-old Canadian came back to eliminate Juan Pablo Varillas, a qualifier from Peru making his Grand Slam debut, by a score of 2-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-3.
Other winners included 2017 U.S. Open champion and 2018 French Open runner-up Sloane Stephens, No. 23 Jil Teichmann and
No. 26 Sorana Cirstea among the women; No. 3 Alexander Zverev, No. 18 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 23 John Isner and No. 26 Botic Van de Zandschulp among the men.