So that was it for Dominic Thiem’s Grand Slam career.
In his 37th appearance in the main draw of a major event, he was eliminated early in the first round of the US Open on Monday (match report>>>).
As feared, young US star Ben Shelton was a size too big for the 30-year-old from Lower Austria. After an initially balanced start, Shelton (the future Grand Slam winner?) defeated the Lichtenwörther in three sets.
And this happened in Arthur Ashe Stadium, of all places, where Thiem won his only Grand Slam title in 2020 and thus the greatest success of his career.
Honorable farewell on the big tennis stage
To be honest, one could not have expected more from this match. The intensity of the men’s tennis is too great for anyone to seriously expect an upset. After all, the number 210 was playing against the number 13 in the world.
Nevertheless, it was the memorable farewell from the big tennis stage that Thiem had hoped for, which had been denied to him just a few months ago at the French Open in Roland Garros.
There, the organizers could not bring themselves to grant the two-time Paris finalist a wild card. In Flushing Meadows, however, his wish for one last appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament was granted once again.
He was celebrated by thousands of spectators in the largest tennis stadium in the world and, in his farewell speech, described it as a kind of compensation for the empty stands at his US Open triumph in 2020, when the world was still paralyzed by the corona pandemic and the Grand Slam tournament in Flushing Meadows had to be played in front of empty stands.
Impressive Grand Slam record
But Thiem more than deserved this celebratory farewell in Arthur Ashe Stadium. After all, it was only ten years in which he was able to compete with the very best at the biggest tennis events in the world. In this short time, however, he also proved for many years that he belonged to this elite circle.
Thiem played a total of 111 Grand Slam matches, winning 75 of them. He also reached an impressive four major finals, of which he won one.
And that in an era with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Of the 72 Grand Slam tournaments played from Wimbledon 2004 to Wimbledon 2022, these four men won an incredible 64. Besides Thiem, only Stan Wawrinka, Daniil Medvedev, Juan Martin Del Potro, Marat Safin and Marin Cilic won a major title during this period. So it is no exaggeration when I write here about “a handful of chosen ones”.
And it was anything but a random title. After all, Thiem had already proven before the 2020 US Open that he has what it takes to be a Grand Slam winner with two finals at Roland Garros and one at the Australian Open.
Back then, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic stood in his way twice in the finals and once. Nevertheless, Thiem, who was playing well, had one hand on the trophy at least in Melbourne 2020. Thiem did not struggle after these final defeats, kept going and was finally rewarded for his persistence in New York in 2020.
Wrist injury shattered further title dreams
Did we expect more after the long-awaited first Grand Slam title? Certainly. As always in sport, after a great success you hope for the next step, the next big title or the next personal best. It is clear that this cannot always be achieved – every athlete and sports fan knows that.
However, not even professional pessimists dared to predict such an abrupt end as that which befell Thiem with his serious wrist injury just a few months after the greatest triumph of his career.
The five most legendary Thiem matches at the US Open
As was the case for many other tennis colleagues before him – such as Juan Martin Del Potro – his wrist proved to be too fragile a part of his body. Even after recovering, he lacked the feeling, security and, above all, confidence in his most important shot: the forehand topspin.
Despite his best efforts, Thiem was unable to regain his former strength. It is no wonder that the 17-time ATP title holder eventually lost interest in tennis and competition.
Gratitude instead of sadness for missed opportunities
The final line at the end of the season is the logical consequence of the difficult last four years, in which he also had to fight one or two battles in public. Of course, we could now play “if only” and mourn the possibility of further Grand Slam titles.
It would be better, however, to be grateful for the impressive successes that Dominic Thiem has brought to Austrian tennis over the past ten years, triggering an unexpected tennis boom throughout the country. He will go down in Austrian sports history as one of the greatest athletes of all time. No one can take this status away from him.
It should also be noted that a wrist problem does not necessarily only occur after the first Grand Slam title. It could have happened before that too. And we don’t even want to imagine this “if only I had” scenario and would rather say “thank you”: “Thank you, Dominic! We were very happy!”
And we hope that Thiem will remain involved in tennis in some way. That would make us even happier.
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