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LONDON — Dominic Thiem will not admit to being superstitious. He said his 5-year-old habit of twirling the tennis ball around in his fingers before every serve is no different than Alexander Zverev tugging at his shirt in between points or Rafael Nadal lining up his bottles in perfect order beside his chair. It is simply part of his routine.
“I think it’s not possible anymore that I don’t do it because it’s so much in my system, so automatic that I do it before every single serve,” Thiem said. “It can be very rough outside on the court, very lonely, very long.