2024-07-23 19:05:29
Dominic Thiem bid a painful farewell to one of his favorite tournaments on Tuesday night. The 30-year-old Austrian played his final clay-court match in Garmstadt, losing to Argentina in clear fashion 2:6, 4:6 after 73 minutes in front of a sold-out stadium. Player Thiago Augustin Tirant. For the 2019 Kitz winner in Lichtenwörth, the performance he had hoped to bring to 5,800 fans again came to nothing.
Tirant reached his first ATP semi-final in Bastad last week, defeating world number eight Andrej Rublev of Russia. He was only eliminated against eventual champion Nuno Borges, who temporarily removed Kitzbühel from his start after his eventual victory over Rafael Nadal. Thiem was no threat to the South American (No. 101 in the ATP rankings), who was in good form in his first and final match.
The former world No. 3 gave up his serve on the first break of the first set and was trailing from the start. It wasn’t until the score was 0:4, 20 minutes later, that Tim succeeded in the first game. The first set was defeated (easily) by Tirante after 28 minutes. “It was heartbreaking to watch him,” former player and TV pundit Barbara Schett said on ServusTV after the first round.
In the second set, Tim improved and kept chasing Tirant at 4:4. After nearly 70 minutes, Tim gave up serving, chasing the score to 4:5, and was eventually eliminated. Tirant served for the win in two sets.
Although the stadium was packed, the atmosphere was not good due to the one-sided game. The noise was even louder when the 17-time ATP tournament champion entered the court and after match point.
After the game, the event organizers prepared a tribute to Tim’s “life’s work in Kitzbühel”. His greatest moments were first presented in video clips in front of his parents, brother Moritz and girlfriend Lili Paul-Roncalli, after which he received a valuable new design of Kitzbühel suede with Encrusted with diamonds and Swarovski stones.
With Thiem also finding out on Tuesday that Andy Murray will now compete in the Olympics, his last chance to start under the five-ring logo has gone. Now Tim still hopes to get a wild card to the US Open, and if he doesn’t get it, he will participate in the qualifying tournament in New York. There he celebrated his biggest success of 2020, winning a Grand Slam title. Thiem will say his final farewell at the second home game at the Vienna Arena in October.
Since announcing his retirement on May 10, Thiem has only celebrated victory in the first round of French Open qualifying. Lost in Mallorca in the first round, lost in Gstaad last week and now Garmstadt.
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