Tennis Australia made a huge effort to organize the “Australian Summer” during this pandemic. However, things will not be easy since (rightly so) the local governments want to be very careful about the potential spread of the Coronavirus in the country. Therefore tennis players will have to endure 14 days’ quarantine and they can have only a small team with them.
John Isner has announced he won’t play the first major of the season since he doesn’t want to stay for so long (at least 5 weeks) away from his family. According to reports, this was also the reason for Roger Federer not to play in Melbourne. Recently, Rafael Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya also announced he wouldn’t follow Rafa to Melbourne to stay with his family.
Dominic Thiem and his coach
Unfortunately, we received the news that Dominic Thiem’s coach Nicolas Massu was found positive for Coronavirus. Therefore he will not be able to follow Dominic ni Australia. It was asked if he could join the Austrian in the following weeks, but apparently that is not going to happen. Dominic will be coached by his father Wolfgang in Melbourne.
Rafael Nadal in 2021
Ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 21st of November 2020 when he was defeated by Daniil Medvedev 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3
in the semifinal in the Nitto ATP Finals (draw).Currently, during this year the Spaniard has achieved a composed 0-0 match record.
Dominic Thiem in 2021
Now the world no.3 (career-high), Thiem played his last contest on the 22nd of November 2020 when he lost to Daniil Medvedev 4-6 7-6(2) 6-4 in the final in the Nitto ATP Finals (draw).
Currently, during this season Dominic achieved a compiled 0-0 match record.
Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem squared off 15 times. Their current record is 9-6 for Nadal. Previously, the last time when they squared off, Dominic Thiem won 7-67 7-64 in the round robin in London (Nitto ATP Finals) in November 2020.
You can watch the highlights in the following video.