The Austrian tennis star announced that he would be hanging up his racket at the end of the 2024 season, despite the fact he only celebrates his 31st birthday in September.
Thiem has endured a horrendous spate of bad luck with injuries, with a recurrent wrist problem in particular derailing his career just when he had reached his peak.
Ahead of his final Grand Slam tournament at the US Open, where he won his only Major against Alexander Zverev four years ago, Thiem reflected on how he tried to go toe-to-toe with the ‘Big Three’ – losing the Australian Open final against Djokovic and two finals at Roland Garros against Nadal – and came off worse as a result.
“It took a toll, especially as a mere mortal trying to compete with the sport’s three demigods [Federer, Nadal and Djokovic],” Thiem told The Athletic.
“That contributed to the injury, definitely. I was competing with the three greatest of all time. That was intense.
But also, all the years before I always had a big load and intensity in my practice.
That’s something the doctor and many other people said.
That at one point the wrist broke because of all the shots I did, all the hard practice I did all those years before.
