The ATP Finals began on Sunday at the O2 Arena in London. Dominic Thiem caused an upset at the tournament after he defeated Roger Federer in their opening group match. The 26-year-old is now in a strong position to qualify for the semifinals. He has had a successful season this year, winning five ATP tournaments as well as achieving a career-high number four ranking.
Thiem’s girlfriend Kiki Maldenovic
The Austrian appears to be happy off the court. He is currently dating Kiki Maldenovic. While the couple started dating in 2017, their relationship became public in 2018 when Kiki supported Thiem during his run to the final at the 2018 French Open. The two have busy tennis schedules and but post pictures on social media when they hang out. Kiki has had a successful season. Together with her doubles partner Timea Babos, she has won several titles in 2019. The pair won the French Open doubles title earlier in the year. They qualified for the WTA Finals in Shenzhen last month and were victorious at the tournament, winning their finals match 6-1 6-3 against Hsei Su-Wei and Barbora Strycova.
Fed Cup success
Kiki’s great season continued at the Fed Cup last week. She lifted the title for France together with Caroline Garcia. The two had previously reached the finals in 2016 but lost to the Czech Republic. They had also won the French Open doubles title that year. However, they had a falling out after Garcia made a decision to focus on her singles career. They recently made up, teamed up for this year’s Fed Cup, and finally enjoyed success at the tournament. After her victory, Kiki may join Thiem in London to support him for the finals.
Thiem’s recent form
The Austrian player has been among the most in-form players on tour. He returned to the final in Roland Garros this year but lost out to Rafael Nadal. Thiem will fancy his chances in London after defeating Federer in his first match. He improved his record over the 20-time Grand Slam champion to 5-2 and has now won his last all their meetings in 2019. The Austrian player will face Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini in his remaining group matches. He has played Djokovic nine times in his career, winning three times to the Serbian’s six. The 26-year-old has a more favorable record against Berrettini. Dominic holds a 2-1 winning record over the Italian.
Thiem in London, ranking, and results in 2019
Ranked no.5, the Austrian has a 45-15 win-loss record in 2019. The Austrian is currently competing in London where he bested Roger Federer 7-5 7-5.
The Austrian will compete against Djokovic in the Round Robin. The head to head is 6-3 for Djokovic.
The last time that they squared off, Thiem won 6-2 3-6 7-5 5-7 7-5 in the semifinal in Roland Garros on the 08th June 2019.
The Austrian clinched 5 titles in 2019 in Indian Wells, in Barcelona, in Kitzbuhel, in Beijing and in Vienna. Thiem was the finalist at the French Open.
The Austrian won 16 titles in his career: 3 on hard courts, 10 on clay courts, 2 on indoor courts and 1 on grass courts. (See the list of his titles)
Kristina Mladenovic’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.38, Mladenovic played her last match on the 19th of October when she surrendered to Belinda Bencic 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in Moscow.
Kristina Mladenovic’s best performance of the present year was reaching the semi-finals in Moscow and Zhengzhou.
