Dominic Thiem has announced he will retire from tennis at the end of the 2024 season.
The 30-year-old was one of the game’s most entertaining players as the sheer power he possessed off both the forehand and backhand was a joy to watch.
He was a thorn in the side of the world’s best players on a number of occasions and he was able to capture some big titles including a Grand Slam.
But for the past three seasons Thiem has been battling a persistent wrist injury which has rendered him unable to recapture his best form.
As a result, he has decided to hang up his racket and following the announcement, The Tennis Gazette will look at the five greatest moments from Thiem’s career.
Five of Dominic Thiem’s greatest career moments
1. Winning 2020 US Open
Many wondered when Thiem would get his hands on one of tennis’ four biggest honours. It finally happened at Flushing Meadows in 2020, with no fans allowed into the arena due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Another strange aspect of this tournament was the absence of the ‘Big 3’ in the latter stages of the tournament. Defending champion Rafael Nadal did not compete at all as he chose not to travel to the US due to the pandemic, while Roger Federer was out injured.
Novak Djokovic did enter the tournament, but he was disqualified after striking a lineswoman with a ball during his fourth round match.
Thiem calmly made his way through the draw, dropping just one set on the way to the final where he faced Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
In a nervy and at times scrappy contest, Thiem rallied from two sets down to triumph 2–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6(6) in over four hours to win his one and only major in what is the greatest triumph of his career.
2. Beating Djokovic at 2019 French Open to make the final
In 2019 Thiem was still in search of his first major and in order to reach the Roland Garros final for the second successive year, he had to defeat the mighty Djokovic.
The Australian had beaten the World Number One at the French Open two years earlier and began their semi-final in great fashion by winning the first set 6-2.
Though the match was stopped due to bad weather on three occasions, it did not impact the outstanding level of play as both players pushed each other to their limit.
The match that began on Friday did not end until Saturday and it was Thiem that outlasted the Serbian despite the 36-year-old’s best attempts to fight back.
Thiem’s 2-6 6-3 5-7 7-5 5-7 win ended Djokovic’s run of 26 consecutive Grand Slam match wins as he ensured he would face Nadal in the Roland Garros final two years in a row.
3. Reaching first Grand Slam final
Some of Thiem’s greatest moments have come at Roland Garros and it was the scene of his first Grand Slam final.
He defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini, Kei Nishikori and Zverev to reach the semi-finals, and dispatched Marco Cecchinato, who beat Djokovic in the quarter-finals, to reach his debut major final.
However, he came up against the clay court master Nadal, who was in pursuit of his 11th French Open win. Despite his best efforts he could only take nine games off the Spaniard who claimed a straight sets victory.
4. Beating Federer to win Indian Wells in 2019
Despite losing another Grand Slam final, 2019 was still a positive year for Thiem as he claimed his lone Masters 1000 title that season.
He had a poor year leading into that year’s Indian Wells Masters, but the player was back to his belligerent best in the Californian desert. After coming through a tight semi-final against Milos Raonic, Thiem faced Roger Federer in the final.
Though the Swiss Maestro took control of the contest by winning set one, Thiem overturned the deficit and completed a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win to clinch the title and claim arguably his biggest win against the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
5. Reaching the 2020 Australian Open final
After finding himself two sets to one down against Australia’s Alex Bolt in the second round, Thiem raised his level to not only win that match but reach his one and only Australian Open final in 2020.
Once again, he came up against one of the game’s greatest players and the Australian Open’s most successful competitor, Djokovic.
Thiem recovered from losing the first set to go ahead by two sets to one. But as he has done so often throughout his career, Djokovic found a way to turn the tables back in his favour.
In front of a packed Rod Laver Arena, the Serbian defeated Thiem to claim what at the time was his 17th major and eighth at Melbourne Park. As mentioned earlier, Thiem did get his hands on a Grand Slam later that year at the US Open.
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