Roger Federer: Dominic Thiem criticised by Greg Rusedski after doing THIS against Federer
DOMINIC THIEM got his tactics wrong when he faced Roger Federer at the ATP Finals earlier this week.
Dominic Thiem says he had a point to prove in Nishikori match
That is according to former British No 1 and US Open finalist Greg Rusedski.
Federer beat Thiem in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday at London’s O2 Arena.
Thiem bounced back today when he beat Kei Nishikori 6-1, 6-4 to keep his hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages alive.
Federer faces Kevin Anderson later this evening in his final round robin match of the competition.
We were talking in his match against Federer, why didn’t he do that tactic with Roger Federer?
Anderson is already through to the quarter-finals but Roger Federer needs to win six games to finish above Thiem and knock the Austrian out.
But speaking after Thiem’s win over Nishikori, Rusedski questioned why the 25-year-old did not adopt a particular tactic against Federer that he did today.
And Rusedski claims Thiem could have fared better against Federer and had a better chance of qualification if he did so.
“We were talking in his match against Federer, why didn’t he do that tactic with Roger Federer?” he said on Sky Sports.
“Move him right and left, play with margin, find the balance.
“It would have been much more interesting and he probably would have had a better chance to qualify.
“But he learnt from that mistake in his previous match and brought it forward to Nishikori.
“But the difference between playing Federer and Nishikori is the serve.
“Federer got a lot of cheap points on the serve while Nishikori, you could tell, he was very comfortable returning.”
It will be Federer and Anderson's first meeting since Wimbledon earlier this year.
Anderson won a five-set thriller on that occasion, winning the quarter-final 13-11 in the final set.