Former US Open champion Thiem to retire at the end of the year
Austria’s Dominic Thiem, former US Open champion, announced on Friday that the 2024 season would be his last as a professional tennis player, ending a career plagued by a long-term wrist injury.
The 30-year-old’s fortunes have nose-dived since his crowning moment in 2020, when he beat Alexander Zverev in the nal of that year’s pandemic-aected US Open held behind closed doors.
“The season 2024 is going to be my last one. I am going to nish my career at the end of this season,” Thiem said via a video statement on social media.
Several reasons had in©uenced his decision to retire, Thiem stated, but the main ones were his injured wrist and his “inner feeling” that had caused him to “very carefully” re©ect on the ups and downs of his “incredible journey as a tennis player”.
He said he had thought about the decision to end his career “for a very long time”.
“I am very happy with it [decision] and I am also super excited for everything that is coming up next."
Once
World
No.3,
Thiem’s ranking plummeted to 352 in June 2022 after a wrist injury sidelined him for nine months and prevented him from defending his US Open title. He is currently ranked No. 117.
Over the course of his career, Thiem has won 17 tournaments. He was also twice a nalist at the French Open (2018 and 2019) and once at the Australian Open (2020) to go with two runner-up nishes at the year-ending ATP Finals (2019 and 2020).
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic praised Thiem earlier this week, saying the Austrian had “always shown respect on the court and took time to say hello”, according to APA press agency.
“I really like Dominic. We all know how hard it is to come back (after injury),” Djokovic was quoted as saying.