Andy Murray dishes out advice to struggling Dominic Thiem

Andy Murray has given Dominic Thiem some advice as the former world No 3 struggles to return to winning ways following a lengthy injury layoff. Murray himself is finally at his best level since undergoing a hip resurfacing surgery in 2019 and has started the season with a 7-3 win-loss record. And the Brit told Thiem that it would likely take “one big win” to turn things around with the Austrian now outside of the world’s top 100.

Thiem’s struggles continued on Thursday as the 29-year-old blew a set-and-break lead over Adrian Mannarino to crash out in the first round of Indian Wells. The current world No 102 led 6-4 4-1 and was 5-3 up in the final set tiebreak but lost 4-6 6-4 7-6(5) to the Frenchman, giving him a 1-7 record for the season so far.

The Austrian has struggled to get back to his best after picking up a wrist injury at the 2021 Mallorca Championships which sidelined him for almost a year. He managed to get back into the world’s top 100 at the start of 2023 but has since dropped back out and hasn’t won back-to-back tour matches since an Antwerp semi-final run in October.

And Murray has now weighed in on Thiem’s situation, with the Brit knowing more than enough about trying to come back from injury after struggling with his hip in 2017 and taking time away from the tour on multiple occasions. He then underwent resurfacing surgery in 2019 to have a metal joint placed in the hip and has finally hit stride in his comeback this year.

“For Thiem, it’s really hard when you’ve been out for such a long time,” the former world No 1 said of the 2020 US Open champion. “Wrist injuries are obviously always tricky. I don’t know the ins and outs of the injury.”

While Murray was unaware of the specifics of Thiem’s wrist problem, he speculated whether some of the issues could be stemming from a mental block. The current world No 55 added: “Some of it, you know, can be psychological and maybe it will take just one big win or one big week to turn that around.”

And the three-time Grand Slam champion backed Thiem to get back to his best, claiming that most of the former No 3’s game was still good enough. “But I hope that he can because he was challenging for Majors very regularly before the injury and there’s one specific shot that he’s struggling on now,” Murray explained.