Saw Thiem lose to a qualifier ranked 240th in the 1st round of Munich....

Zardoz7/12

Hall of Fame
Yes this isn't the same Thiem from 2020 but damn he looks cooked, even more than last year or the year before. I really think he's going to retire at Vienna later this year, remember he turns 31 this year which is young these days in tennis when you have players like Dimitrov enjoying a rich vein of form in the autumn of his career, or Djokovic being Number 1 getting on 37.

 

junior74

Bionic Poster
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He is completely done, his shots don't have any bite anymore, so he is not taking the initiative nearly as much as he used to, thus his opponents are the one dictating the rallies more, leading to Domi being on the backfoot, having to defend a ton, but even his movement has regressed so he can't defend well either. Basically everything goes south. He will rip two or three cool BH winners that remind us of the old Thiem, kind of like what Gasquet does in every match, but that's about it. Hell, even old Gasquet is two leagues above this Thiem who played in Munich.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
He started to "lose form" the moment the '20 USO final ended.
Not really. Thiem had some epic matches at the 2020 French Open a few weeks later (remember that the French Open that year was put back 4 months from its usual slot), and great wins over Nadal and Djokovic at the 2020 YEC. The first crack in Thiem's form was how easily he lost to Dimitrov at the 2021 Australian Open. Dimitrov won 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in the fourth round.
 

DSH

Talk Tennis Guru
Not really. Thiem had some epic matches at the 2020 French Open a few weeks later (remember that the French Open that year was put back 4 months from its usual slot), and great wins over Nadal and Djokovic at the 2020 YEC. The first crack in Thiem's form was how easily he lost to Dimitrov at the 2021 Australian Open. Dimitrov won 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in the fourth round.
Thiem verkaufte seine Seele an den Teufel, nachdem er gewonnen und seinen Traum erfüllt hatte, aber es gab einen Preis, den er zahlen musste, und der Teufel nahm ihm dabei die Seele und ließ ihn leer und hoffnungslos zurück.
:cry:
 

Musterrific

Hall of Fame
He is completely done, his shots don't have any bite anymore, so he is not taking the initiative nearly as much as he used to, thus his opponents are the one dictating the rallies more, leading to Domi being on the backfoot, having to defend a ton, but even his movement has regressed so he can't defend well either. Basically everything goes south. He will rip two or three cool BH winners that remind us of the old Thiem, kind of like what Gasquet does in every match, but that's about it. Hell, even old Gasquet is two leagues above this Thiem who played in Munich.
Exactly - watching those highlights from today, it seemed to me that his movement isn't as good as it used to be, and that has nothing to do with the wrist. Also, his anticipation looked off and he appeared to be surprised a lot by his opponent's shots, even though that guy is a total nobody. These are things that can't be fixed, unfortunately.

I think some of the other posters here might be right about him possibly retiring in Vienna this year. I can't imagine that he'd want to grind out 2025 with the same predictably disastrous results. If the big comeback hasn't been achievable in the 3 years since his injury, it's never going to happen. Why would it suddenly?
 

atatu

Legend
Maybe he's not really committed to making it back, he's gone on record as saying that many lower ranked players are unprofessional and they don't commit 100 percent to the sport.
 

aus89

Hall of Fame
I think some of the other posters here might be right about him possibly retiring in Vienna this year. I can't imagine that he'd want to grind out 2025 with the same predictably disastrous results. If the big comeback hasn't been achievable in the 3 years since his injury, it's never going to happen. Why would it suddenly?
Given his form and ranking show zero signs of improvement (and if anything are getting worse), yes, i think he's basically said as much, he's done and has no interest slogging it out in challengers etc... and will go work for Eurosport or Austrian media/invest his money etc...
 

atatu

Legend
In 2020 during Covid Thiem said he worked hard for his money and could find no reàson why he should help any of the lower ranked players. This ongoing thing of him looks like karma. I might be wrong.
At the very least maybe he's realizing that sometimes lower ranked players aren't unprofessional and they are committed 100 percent.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
I really think he's going to retire at Vienna later this year.
It was a good move that Thiem skipped the sunshine double and opted for Challengers. But then he lost first round to guys ranked in the 200's at two challenger events in Hungary and then Croatia.

I keep expecting Domi to improve or win some matches at the Challenger level, but he's not. Honestly, if he can't win at the minor league level, his future on the actual tour is not looking good. His wrist injury never fully healed.
 

Olli Jokinen

Hall of Fame
It was a good move that Thiem skipped the sunshine double and opted for Challengers. But then he lost first round to guys ranked in the 200's at two challenger events in Hungary and then Croatia.

I keep expecting Domi to improve or win some matches at the Challenger level, but he's not. Honestly, if he can't win at the minor league level, his future on the actual tour is not looking good. His wrist injury never fully healed.
It's a sad story. He can't turn defense into offense like before, so he's basically a pusher that makes a lot of unforced errors now.
 

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Not really. Thiem had some epic matches at the 2020 French Open a few weeks later (remember that the French Open that year was put back 4 months from its usual slot), and great wins over Nadal and Djokovic at the 2020 YEC. The first crack in Thiem's form was how easily he lost to Dimitrov at the 2021 Australian Open. Dimitrov won 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 in the fourth round.
Yes really, at least at the Slam level. While his 2020 ATP finals did show his prime level for the last time (his backhand was on fire that tournament), Thiem's RG 2020 performance was a disaster to say the least. He went to 5 sets against the unknown hobbit Gaston (?) and then lost to Schwartzmann, who was not a RG contender. Anything different from losing to Nadovic at RG 2020 for Thiem was inexcusable. Being the recent USO champion, and having eliminated Novak at RG 2019, Thiem headed into the RG 2020 draw as the solid second favorite for the title, or at the very least as equal of a favorite as Novak.

So the first suspicious loss from Thiem was that of RG 2020 against Schwartzmann, despite the fact he had a last hallelujah at the 2020 Nitto ATP finals.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
Yes really, at least at the Slam level.
Did you watch him at the 2020 French Open, like the epic with Schwartzman? Thiem did not go into decline immediately after winning the 2020 US Open. His decline started when Dimitrov beat him in the fourth round at the 2021 Australian Open 6-4, 6-4, 6-0, when Thiem had been the clear favourite to win going into the match. Some people might even say going two sets down to Kyrgios in the previous match, before Thiem came back to win in 5 sets. After losing to Dimitrov, Thiem's results then went into decline for the next few months (compared to 2017-2020) until the wrist injury in June 2021.

While his 2020 ATP finals did show his prime level for the last time (his backhand was on fire that tournament), Thiem's RG 2020 performance was a disaster to say the least.
It wasn't a disaster at all.

He went to 5 sets against the unknown hobbit Gaston (?)
Gaston played very well, and had beaten Wawrinka. Did you watch that Thiem vs. Gaston match?

and then lost to Schwartzmann, who was not a RG contender.
Thiem lost to Schwartzman in an epic. Schwartzman's 7-6, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 win stopped the highly anticipated Nadal vs. Thiem semi final.
 

Sport

G.O.A.T.
Did you watch him at the 2020 French Open, like the epic with Schwartzman? Thiem did not go into decline immediately after winning the 2020 US Open. His decline started when Dimitrov beat him in the fourth round at the 2021 Australian Open 6-4, 6-4, 6-0, when Thiem had been the clear favourite to win going into the match. Some people might even say going two sets down to Kyrgios in the previous match, before Thiem came back to win in 5 sets. Thiem's results then went into decline for the next few months (compared to 2017-2020) until the wrist injury in June 2021.


It wasn't a disaster at all.


Gaston played very well, and had beaten Wawrinka. Did you watch that Thiem vs. Gaston match?


Thiem lost to Schwartzman in an epic. Schwartzman's 7-6, 5-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 win stopped the highly anticipated Nadal vs. Thiem semi final.
Yes, I watched both the Gaston and Schwartzman matches back then. 2019 Thiem would've easily dispatched Gaston in 3 or 4 sets at the very worst. I also don't see 2019 Thiem losing to Schwartzmann at RG.

USO chanpion and back-to-back defending RG finalist Thiem losing to Schwartzman at RG 2020 was SCHOCKING and definetely a terribly bad result for him. He was the solid second favorite for the title. Dominic losing to Rafa or Novak was understandable, him losing to Schwartzman was inexcusable and unexpected.
 
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Mustard

Bionic Poster
Yes, I watched both the Gaston abd Schwartzman matches back then. 2019 Thiem would've easily dispatched Gaston in 3 or 4 sets at the very worst. I also don't see 2019 Thiem losing to Schwartzmann at RG.
A slight decline on 2018-2019 French Open form doesn't mean that Thiem's form was slumping.
 

Musterrific

Hall of Fame
It was a good move that Thiem skipped the sunshine double and opted for Challengers. But then he lost first round to guys ranked in the 200's at two challenger events in Hungary and then Croatia.

I keep expecting Domi to improve or win some matches at the Challenger level, but he's not. Honestly, if he can't win at the minor league level, his future on the actual tour is not looking good. His wrist injury never fully healed.
Maybe he needs to drop one level further and play some Futures tournaments...
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
Good riddance

Was never a fan...like how blah do you have to be to be a 1HBHer that I can't warm up to

Hated how he hit everything falling away from the ball on that outside foot, and his moaning was just embarrassing
 

Gary Duane

Talk Tennis Guru
The weirdest thing is that it seems like just yesterday when he had an acne problem. Where does the time go!
 

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
I'll give you that, he really did make the 1HBH look labored af.

79b561a33ccd556d09fc609c439e84f5

Exactly, it is the ugly duckling of 1HBHs

I hit my FH "like" him and I hate it. Always off the back/outside foot, totally arming it, with the off hand flopping behind my back instead of staying tucked to the body. I tore my rotator cuff that way, no wonder his wrist didn't hold up
 
He started to "lose form" the moment the '20 USO final ended.

He did well in the 2020 Tour Finals.

It is weird. Thiem was already losing some form in the spring of 2021 before the wrist injury.

Isn't it likely that that form was because of the wrist injury but he was trying to fight through it at first because he didn't realize how severe it was? Similar to, say, Murray in early 2017 (and perhaps to Wawrinka and Djokovic at the same time). He didn't play between Dubai and Madrid, so he must have been struggling with some injury or another. Also, he did make the Madrid semis, which is a lot better than anything he's done since then.

Yes, I watched both the Gaston abd Schwartzman matches back then. 2019 Thiem would've easily dispatched Gaston in 3 or 4 sets at the very worst. I also don't see 2019 Thiem losing to Schwartzmann at RG.

USO chanpion and back-to-back defending RG finalist Thiem losing to Schwartzman at RG 2020 was SCHOCKING and definetely a terribly bad result for him. He was the solid second favorite for the title. Dominic losing to Rafa or Novak was understandable, him losing to Schwartzman was inexcusable and unexpected.
I think that's just the usual hangover from winning a first slam, rather than a harbinger of things to come, especially given the Tour Finals later that year was one of his best performances.
 

ChrisJR3264

Hall of Fame
I think he’s mentally done with tennis. He’ll probably get a wild card and farewell at the us open if he decides to play this long.

He knows his wrist and overall game isn’t physically where it used to be. He didn’t change his style or tactics. I think he knows he’s no longer a threat to players. He made some jumps at one point into the top 100 but I think it’s over.
 

Rob2D

Rookie
Saw him play Davis Cup a couple months ago. He looked completely not bothered. Spent most of the time on his phone. He doesn't have any interest anymore.
 
Yes this isn't the same Thiem from 2020 but damn he looks cooked, even more than last year or the year before. I really think he's going to retire at Vienna later this year, remember he turns 31 this year which is young these days in tennis when you have players like Dimitrov enjoying a rich vein of form in the autumn of his career, or Djokovic being Number 1 getting on 37.

31 is not young in tennis. Djokovic is doing a Barry Bonds/Lance Armstrong impression and Dimitrov/Mannarino types are still the exception. The rest of the top 30 are largely under 27.
 
Saw him play Davis Cup a couple months ago. He looked completely not bothered. Spent most of the time on his phone. He doesn't have any interest anymore.
Have you seen his wife? I’d rather be tethered to her hip than chasing glory on the Challenger Tour, personally.
 

Rafa24

Hall of Fame
I don't know how someone can fall so fast. Winning that USO after zverev was up 2-0 i really think was the worst thing that ever happened to him.
 

No_Kwan_Do

Semi-Pro
I doubt he's ever getting back to the swash-buckling top 5 talent that he was 4-5 years ago.

He even admitted himself that it's not mental with him anymore, it's a physical limitation of the wrist surgery he's had. He can't do what he used to, even if he wanted to.
 

Musterrific

Hall of Fame
I doubt he's ever getting back to the swash-buckling top 5 talent that he was 4-5 years ago.

He even admitted himself that it's not mental with him anymore, it's a physical limitation of the wrist surgery he's had. He can't do what he used to, even if he wanted to.
Then why play constantly?
 

aus89

Hall of Fame
Have you seen his wife? I’d rather be tethered to her hip than chasing glory on the Challenger Tour, personally.
he's not married but i'm sure he would rather be investigated by police for making loud sex noises than just grunting training hard for a sport he will never win anything he cares about again
 

Honza

Semi-Pro
well, saying it is the wrist is the easy solution. following all his matches you can clearly see his worse movement and how he is playing from further back and not moving inside the court anymore. i doubt thats a wrist problem.
in addition to that he plays very poorly on important points and games. i guess its a deadly combination of a lot of factors.
nevertheless he gave us (us austrians especially) a lot of nice tennis moments and he can play as long as it is fun for him.
 
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