It was a surprise! Shortly after his knockout round at the Wiener Stadthalle, Dominic Thiem declared his season over. The ATP clarifies.
Thiem’s big goal was to finish calendar year 2022 in the top 100 of the world rankings to have a steady starting spot at the Australian Open in January 2023. Due to the knockout round in his home tournament against the head of Russian series Daniil Medvedev, this was not initially guaranteed, Thiem was only 108th in the world rankings in the live standings.
Thiem closes the season after Vienna-Aus
So on Thursday evening there were many indications that Lichtenwörther could serve in the qualifiers for the Paris-Bercy Masters tournament and in the Bergamo and Bratislava Challenger tournaments. Only shortly after, during his press conference, the number one of Austria surprisingly declared the season over. Thiem already has the necessary points for the world ranking.
Fixed ATP bug
In the meantime, however, the ATP has shed light on itself and clarified a mistake. According to “Servus TV”, Alexander Antonitsch would have been in charge of the clarification. Like all other players injured during a six-month hiatus, Thiem received a so-called “protected ranking” for his return, which is the chance to start in prominent tournaments with the world rankings he had before the serious wrist injury. Thiem entered the ATP 250 tournament in Cordoba with a wild card, eventually postponing his comeback due to a finger injury. However, the ATP saw this as a comeback attempt and then gave the Lichtenwörther zero points in the world rankings for the 1000 tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami, although the 29-year-old was still injured at the time.
The ATP has now agreed that the Austrian tennis star can now replace these two Masters tournaments. Points from the Salzburg Challenger and the Stadthalle Tournament (45 full points) are now sufficient to secure Austria’s first place in the Australian Open. With 550 points, Thiem will be in 100th place in the world rankings.
No start in Paris
However, the mistake made by the players association also has serious consequences. Because Thiem would actually have been entitled to a starting spot in next week’s ATP 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy, but now he’s missing out on the opportunity to collect points there. “It’s Friday, you can’t take a player out there. They thought the nine months you could declare yourself injured were over. But it wouldn’t be over until December,” continued Antonitsch.
Thiem has therefore finished his season and will not even compete in the Masters qualification this weekend. “We decided that I would concentrate completely on preparation,” said the 29-year-old, who stressed that he has played a lot since July. Now Thiem wants to return to the big tennis stage as a “machine”.
![Girondins4Ever – [Coupe de France] The probable formations of the Stade Bordelais](https://girondins4ever.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/bandicam-2021-12-19-20-50-20-802_resultat.jpg "Girondins4Ever – [Coupe de France] The probable formations of the Stade Bordelais")