A great collapse! Dominic Thiem has now experienced it all, from winning the US Open championship in 2020 to competing as the world number 209 in the final major event of the 2024 season. In just a few hours, he will play his opening match at the 2024 US Open against Ben Shelton. This Austrian tennis player once had an eye-to-eye view of the “Big Three” in the sport of tennis. He now finds it difficult to stand out on the Tour. What exactly led to Thiem’s career taking such a drastic turn?
Let’s start by looking back at some of his most amazing moments. During the years 2018–2020, Dominic Thiem’s career peaked. He made it to his first Grand Slam final at the French Open in 2018. Then again, he advanced to the competition finals a year later.
However, Rafael Nadal prevailed against him on both of those instances. Interestingly enough, though, Thiem defeated Roger Federer in the Indian Wells final in 2019 to claim his maiden ATP Masters 1000 championship.
He demonstrated exceptional tennis even throughout the 2019 ATP Finals. Whenever Thiem faces the “Big Three,” he always comes up with a formidable challenge.
But a year later, he recorded his best record to date. In 2020, Dominic Thiem rose to the third rank in the world after winning his maiden major championship at the US Open. He was praised by many as the next big thing in the tennis world, but the Austrian had no idea what the next several months held in store for him. He had a string of injuries towards the end of the 2020 season, which was followed by poor form in 2021. He was forced to withdraw from the 2021 Wimbledon Championships due to a wrist injury he sustained at the Mallorca Championships in 2021. He was sidelined for an extended period of time due to this injury.
Dominic Thiem getting a wild card into the US Open feels right.
This isn’t about his current level.
This is about honouring a former champion and giving him the chance to relive the emotions associated with the court that ultimately defines his career – this time with a crowd. pic.twitter.com/DA4lvanwBd
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) August 14, 2024
An unidentified foot issue affected his movement and endurance, but the wrist injury was the largest impediment. We are aware that wrists are crucial to the game of racquetball. Thiem had “a separation of the posterior sheath of the ulnar side of the right wrist,” according to the initial diagnosis. Even after using a number of recovery techniques and strategies, he found it extremely difficult to even rotate his wrist. According to Thiem, the right hand and wrist were “very stiff.” Dominic Thiem eventually returned to the circuit in 2022 at the Marbella Challenger, having been off for a while. Unfortunately, at that point in time, he tested positive for COVID-19, thus it was not his luck. After that, he simply was unable to regain his winning combination. His foot, fingers, and wrist issues caused him to drop to number 352 in the world (June 2022). Subsequently, Thiem chose to retire in the 2024 season following the Vienna Open in October, despite the fact that he was able to return to the Top 100 and win his first ATP final in three years in 2023. Here are Thiem’s major points regarding the motivations behind this audacious call. Did Dominic Thiem’s serious injuries have anything to do with the “Big Three”?
Dominic Thiem claims that as he began to challenge the “Big Three,” he started to experience injury problems. “It took a toll, especially as a mere mortal attempting to compete with the sport’s three demigods (Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic),” he remarked in an interview with The Athletic. That undoubtedly played a part in the injury. I was up against the three best players in history. That was really powerful. He talked about how the fierce competition drove him to put in long practice hours. According to Thiem’s doctors, his wrist strength has increased significantly as a result of his rigorous training to increase the force behind his shots. Who would have told him this at the time, though, that this might have been one of the reasons behind his broken wrist? Finding the magic recipe to become closer to the world’s top players was Thiem’s primary obsession. “Every Grand Slam final felt like it may be the last one,” stated Thiem. When he put on his matches, he did so with such intensity! But why did he feel compelled to accept the retirement offer? “I didn’t decide to retire at any certain time, but by the end of the previous year, I was working hard, doing a decent job, and giving my best, and the steps in the right direction didn’t please me,” said Thiem. He thought that his playing had decreased from where it had been a few years before. Unfortunately for him, the breakthrough he was hoping for—a return to his illustrious past—did not materialise.
“It was more about the fighting mentality than the skill level, even when I performed well. This has never been satisfactory and had a part in the choice, according to Thiem. But he views himself as “fortunate” to be able to play alongside all of the other elite players in addition to the “Big Three.” “I didn’t think it would be possible to become the number three player in the world and a Grand Slam champion,” Thiem remarked. His racquet sport adventure is an inspiring tale! What do you think of Dominic Thiem’s inconsistent career?
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