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Promising Austrian Jurij Rodionov reveals that fellow compatriot Dominic Thiem is one of his favorite players on the Tour. Rodionov, ranked at No. 268 in the world, has just recently turned 19 years old. The Austrian has had a good season so far as he has been making progress since the start of the year.
Rodionov won eight matches at the Almaty Challenger last month to win his maiden Challenger title as a qualifier. The 19-year-old, who has spent the majority of his season on the Challenger Tour, debuted on the ATP level on Monday.
The Austrian defeated 2014 French Open semi-finalist Ernests Gulbis in the Kitzbuhel qualifying first round before he beat Italian Lorenzo Sonego in the final round to reach the Kitzbuhel main draw. Rodionov failed to clinch his maiden ATP win on Monday as he lost to fellow compatriot Denis Novak in the first round after a three-set battle.
Rodionov, who started the year ranked at No. 501 in the world, achieved his career-high ranking of No. 255 last week. On the other side, Thiem -- ranked at No. 8 in the world -- is the top-ranked Austrian tennis player. 24-year-old Thiem fell just short of winning his maiden Grand Slam title at this past Roland Garros as he ended runner-up to world No.
1 Rafael Nadal in the French Open final. Thiem, seeded at No. 1 in the Kitzbuhel draw, has a first-round bye as he will be fighting to win his maiden Kitzbuhel title this week. He awaits the winner of the match between wildcard Sebastian Ofner and qualifier Martin Klizan.
Thiem and coach Gunter Bresnik once invited Rodionov to a training session. "It's a good thing that Dominic is playing at the top. Of course he is currently one of my favorite players on the tour. I once got the possibility to practice with Dominic and Gunter Bresnik - that was one of the highlights of my time as a junior player," Rodionov said.
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