US Open: Dominic Thiem withdraws

Defending champion Dominic Thiem will not play in the 2021 US Open or for the rest of the season.

Dominic Thiem during Roland-Garros 2021©Corinne Dubreuil / FFT
 - Romain Vinot

Having won his first Grand Slam title in New York last year, Dominic Thiem has officially withdrawn from the forthcoming US Open which will take place from 30th August to 12th September.

End of the season

Still hampered by an injury to his right wrist, which he suffered during the ATP 250 in Majorca back in June, Dominic Thiem has taken to social media to announce his withdrawal from the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. In the same message, the World No.6 also announced that he would not compete again this season.

Despite his efforts to get back to top form in recent weeks, the Austrian is still in pain and has decided to err on the side of caution.

“The past six weeks, I've been following the medical advice, wearing the wrist splint, doing exercise to stay in shape before starting to train back on court. My recovery was going really well, but then last week I hit a ball during training and started to feel some pain again. I went straight to see the doctors.”

“After some tests, they said that my wrist needed more time, so we've all agreed on being conservative and to give my wrist some time to recover. I'll wear the splint for a couple more weeks before starting with exercises and then training with the racquet again,” he explained.

This announcement marks the end of an extremely difficult 2021 season for Nicolas Massu’s protégé. Clearly affected by the health crisis and suffering a slump since winning his first Grand Slam title, Dominic Thiem was defeated in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and in the first round at Roland Garros, before withdrawing from Wimbledon and the Olympics. Now, his aim is to make a full recovery and come back fighting fit in 2022.