Dominic Thiem is struggling with pandemic-related “emptiness”, but plans to return to the clay-court in Madrid in early May once a knee pain dissipates, he told an Austrian newspaper Monday. After winning the US Open against Alexander Zverev in September, Thiem said he was full of “euphoria”, but “in preparing for this season, I fell into a hole.”

 “There is a certain emptiness, though it’s not dramatic. Last week, I didn’t even watch the football Champions League because it’s such a tragedy,” he said, adding that he “barely followed” the tennis tournament in Monte Carlo, which he had decided to sit out.