From Roland-Garros 2005 to the US Open 2021, there have been two “clubs of four” in tennis. The first, called the “Big Four” and composed of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, won the Grand Slam titles one after the other throughout this period.
Their ogre appetite left only crumbs, collected by the other “club”: Juan Martin Del Potro, Marin Cilic, Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem. Among these rare winners of major tournaments of the little yellow ball, the youngest of the bunch will finally retire first. Tuesday October 22, Dominic Thiem begins the last tournament of his career, in Vienna, against the Italian Luciano Darderi (44e world).
At 31, the Austrian would like to conclude the trip with one last title, at home. “But it’s no longer realistic”concedes to Monde the former world number 3. Because Dominic Thiem is no longer the inexhaustible player who tortured his opponents with his powerful shots from the baseline. The one who beat Novak Djokovic in five of their last seven duels, or Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in their kingdoms – the first on the grass of Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg) in 2016, the second on clay four times between 2016 and 2019. As for Andy Murray, left behind by the trio due to his physical problems, he barely met the native of Wiener Neustadt.
Handicapped by a persistent injury to his right wrist, since the Mallorca tournament in 2021, Dominic Thiem has never again reached the heights that allowed him to play in four Grand Slam tournament finals, and to win the last of them, at the 2020 US Open. “I have been fighting for three years with this injury, explains one of the last apostles of the one-handed backhand, a move he adopted at age 12. I was convinced that I would regain my level of play. But, despite the big training sessions at the start of the year, I saw no improvement during the following tournaments and I no longer have confidence in my wrist. In March, I told myself enough was enough. »
Fatigue and weariness
He who shook up the members of the Big Four during his best years nevertheless won, in New York in 2020, the biggest title of his career without meeting a single one. In the final, his friend Alexander Zverev seemed out to scold him, but Dominic Thiem won by coming back two sets. “This is the first of your many Grand Slam titles, no doubt”prophesied the German at the end of the duel, concluded in a final tie-break. Missed. Despite an end to the season in line with his standards at the time, the Austrian found it difficult to return to the challenge of the biggest trophies after winning the holy grail.
You have 49.67% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
