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Dominic Thiem pinpoints the moment he knew it was time to retire from professional tennis

Originally posted on HITC | By Cameron Greenlees | Last updated Nov 22, 2025 7:00 PM ET

Dominic Thiem’s successful career was ended abruptly due to an ongoing wrist injury.

Thiem’s injury, which he initially sustained in 2021, saw his ranking plummet outside the top 300 as he was sidelined for nine months.

The Austrian star came back to tour-level action in March 2022 and managed to re-enter the top 100, but ultimately never returned to his Grand Slam-winning level.

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At the 2024 Vienna Open, Thiem played his final match in professional tennis, calling a halt to his career at the age of 31.

In an interview with ‘Von Nix Kommt Nix’, the former US Open champion revealed the moment he knew it was time to retire.

Dominic Thiem discusses his decision to retire from tennis in 2024

Thiem explained: “It was definitely a certain moment, I would say at the beginning of 2024. I was a little bit biased from the previous years.

“I was used to going to all the tournaments, and if I played well and put in a good performance, I could win every tournament, and I could beat every opponent.

“In contrast, the two years before 2024 were such a worrying time, wondering if I would even make it into the main draw of a tournament, and that meant I was already a little biased.

“I made a new start at the beginning of 2024, and I trained really hard for five weeks. I really put everything in, and there were three Challenger tournaments in Hungary, Croatia and Italy.

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“If everything had gone well, I would normally have won all three tournaments or at least achieved very good results.

“I lost in the first round in Hungary, which was a huge blow, and then in Croatia I had a disastrous performance, losing in the second round, and that was the point where I said ‘well, this is pointless’.

“I could keep going for a few more years and fight in the main competitions around the border, but that is simply not what I want, and then I came to the conclusion that 2024 would be the last season.”

Dominic Thiem’s best results at each Grand Slam event

Thiem reached the peak of his career in 2020, when he finally hoisted a Grand Slam title after beating Alexander Zverev in the US Open final.

Outside of his triumph at Flushing Meadows, Thiem achieved runner-up finishes at majors on three different occasions.

He made his first Grand Slam final at the 2018 French Open, and reached the championship match again in Paris in 2019, but lost to Rafael Nadal both times.

At the beginning of 2020, Thiem advanced to the final of the Australian Open before ultimately falling to Novak Djokovic.

His best result at Wimbledon was a fourth-round finish, which he achieved during the 2017 season.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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