Mathieu Warnier, Media365: published on Sunday August 25, 2024 at 6:25 p.m.
As he prepares to compete in his final US Open, Dominic Thiem has opened up about what it takes to compete with the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Dominic Thiem is getting closer to the end of the road. Last May, the Austrian player announced that his career would end at the end of the 2024 season. Having received an invitation, the former world number 3 will participate one last time in the US Open, the only Grand Slam tournament he was able to add to his list of achievements in 2020 at the expense of Alexander Zverev. Ahead of what will be his last dance at the highest level, the native of Wiener Neustadt spoke at length in an interview with the site The Athletic. On this occasion, Dominic Thiem spoke at length about what life was like for an ambitious player who wanted to compete with a golden generation in the history of tennis. “I was a mere mortal trying to compete with the three demigods of the sport, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic,” confided the man who has been handicapped for three years by a right hand injury from which he has never really recovered.
Thiem: “I was competing with the three biggest”
With persistent pain that has led him to hang up his boots in a few weeks, Dominic Thiem says he is convinced that the effort required to try to compete at the highest level played a role in his physical problems. “It took its toll. It certainly contributed to the injury,” he said. “I was competing with the three greatest of all time. It was intense.” Delving deeper into the subject, the Austrian admits that he “always had a high load and high intensity” in training and did not necessarily heed the warnings he was given. “That’s something the doctor and many other people said: at some point the wrist broke because of all the shots I made, all the hard training I did all those years ago,” Thiem said. “I always tried to improve and get closer to the best players in the world. » A perfectionism pushed to the extreme which saw the former world number 3 burn his wings, he who will leave the professional circuit at only 31 years old.
