Defending US Open champion Dominic Thiem is out of this year’s competition due to an injury to his right wrist. Thiem is the latest big name to withdraw from the US Open.
The Austrian tennis star suffered the injury in a match with Adrian Mannarino at this year’s Mallorca Open. The 27-year-old revealed that he was close to returning but felt pain while training last week and he was advised to take more time off to heal by his doctors.
“The past six months, I’ve been following the medical advice, wearing the wrist splint, doing exercise to stay in shape… but then last week I hit a ball during training and started to feel some pain again. After some tests, they (the doctors) said my wrist needs more time, so we’ve all agreed on being conservative and to give my wrist some time to recover… It has been a tough decision, but I know this is what I have to do,” said Thiem.
Thiem also stated that he will not be in contention to play any tournament this year as he will have to use a wrist splint for the next few weeks before eventually returning to the court.
The Austrian won his first Grand Slam last year when he defeated Alexander Zverev in the finals of the US Open. He had previously been in three Grand Slam finals but lost them all before winning his first at the US Open in 2020.
Thiem’s withdrawal is a repeat of last year as then defending US Open men’s champion Rafael Nadal, also withdrew from the competition due to the COVID-19 situation. The World No. 6 is the latest big name to withdraw from the competition this week as five-time US Open winner Roger Federer also pulled out due to his ongoing knee injury. Federer will have to undergo knee surgery and will be out of action for a few months.
“I’ve been doing a lot of checks with the doctors, as well, on my knee, getting all the information as I hurt myself further during the grass-court season and Wimbledon. Unfortunately, they told me for the medium to long-term, to feel better, I will need surgery, so I decided to do it. I will be on crutches for many weeks and then also out of the game for many months,” said the Swiss ace on his Instagram.
Federer hopes to return to action sometime next year. The 40-year-old’s compatriot and another former US Open champion Stan Wawrinka also withdrew from this year’s US Open after two foot surgeries earlier this year.
The US Open begins on August 30, with No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic, the favorite to secure his fourth US Open title.
