Dominic Thiem opens up: "I made a lot of mistakes" — the champion's poignant confessions about his fatal injury
Retired since October 2024, Dominic Thiem has been making several media appearances to discuss his career.
Guest on the Von Nix Kommt Nix podcast, the 2020 US Open winner and two-time Roland-Garros finalist (2018 and 2019) opened up about the right wrist injury that led him to retire, as well as the mistakes he believes he made in trying to manage it.
"This injury didn't come out of nowhere. I was almost 28 years old and had been putting a huge strain on my wrist since I was 10 or 11, so for nearly 17 years. It had already endured a lot.
It's not a big surprise that this injury occurred. Moreover, it's an extremely common injury among tennis players. I think there are more players who have had it than players who have never had it.
But it was still my first serious injury. I made a lot of mistakes. I came back way too early, without giving this injury time to heal, to regenerate the wrist, which was of course due to my lack of experience with injuries.
As a high-level athlete, I think we know how to control our body extremely precisely and we immediately sense when something serious happens, and that was the case when this injury occurred.
I immediately told myself that it was going to be a long-term problem. The wrist is so sensitive, and with my playing style, especially with the forehand, the wrist was more important than, I think, for many other players.
There are so many small nerves, and it is, after all, the last point of contact between the body and the racket. It was very difficult at the time, a really complicated experience."
