Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem says retiring from tennis at 31 “hurts” but believes it is the “right decision.”
The Austrian’s career ended with a straight loss to Italy’s Luciano Darderi in the first round of the Vienna Open, and Thiem announced last week that he would retire after his home tournament.
The former world number three, who won the vacant title in 2019, lost 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 to the world number 42.
“That feeling, that emotion. Being in the flow like I was in the first set. Those things will never come back,” Thiem said.
“It hurts, but at the same time, especially in the second set, I played some forehands and they didn’t even go into the net, so it was the right decision.”
After the loss to Darderi, the crowd held cards with Austrian flags and the message “Danke Dominic” (“Thank you Dominic”).
Thiem spoke on court before placing the racket in a glass case to be auctioned off to raise money for charity.
“I’ve said so many good goodbyes over the past few months, but today I want to say thank you for all the amazing years,” Thiem said.
“I’m only part of this career. The whole journey has been an absolute dream. I couldn’t have imagined anything better.”
The awards ceremony took place in Vienna on Sunday, with Thiem playing an exhibition match against Alexander Zverev, the player who won the 2020 US Open.
Thiem has won 17 titles at ATP Tour level during his career. He was a finalist at the 2018 and 2019 French Open and runner-up at the 2020 Australian Open.
He also claimed important wins over all of the ‘big three’ – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
But less than a year after winning in New York, Thiem suffered a wrist injury that kept him out of the Tour for 10 months and his ranking dropped outside the top 350.
Thiem returned to the top 100 last year but failed to find his best game and confirmed in May that this would be his last season.
Federer paid tribute to Thiem on Instagram, saying “A great career has come to an end. Congratulations, Domi.”
“Regardless of the surface, you always found a way to beat me with your thunderous backhand. But more importantly, you did it with grace and sportsmanship.”
