NEW YORK — Four years after his only major title, Dominic Thiem stood on the same court at Arthur Ashe Stadium and played the final Slam match of his career.
Although the stadium was the same, just about everything else was different. In 2020, the second-seeded Thiem pulled off a dramatic five-set comeback over Alexander Zverev in the final in front of endless swaths of empty seats because of the pandemic. On Monday, an enthusiastic crowd saw Thiem, now ranked No. 210 after struggling for several years with a wrist injury, fall to American Ben Shelton in three largely unremarkable sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in under two hours.
But despite the lopsided result, and early exit, Thiem couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s actually a really important moment for me because I [had] my greatest success of my career in this weird 2020,” Thiem, 30, told the crowd after the match. “It was strange and different circumstances and unfortunately I had this success without any of you. So that was of course a really amazing moment, but on the other hand, also pretty sad.
“So I’m super happy that I got the chance to play my last US Open, my last match here on this court, and now I can spend some time with you guys to say thank you to all of you, and make up time we missed four years ago. So that’s a really special moment. I’m very grateful for everybody who came and everybody who got me the chance to play here for one last time.”
Not a dry eye in the house 🥲
Our 2020 champion Dominic Thiem bids an emotional farewell to the US Open. pic.twitter.com/Ru7AKwpYL1
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2024
In addition to highlights of his 2020 run shown on the videoboard, Thiem was presented with a framed poster from the tournament featuring pictures from the years of his time playing at the US Open. After posing for photos on court, he sat and watched Shelton do his postmatch interview. He later said he just tried to soak everything in.
It was likely not the way Thiem had envisioned his Slam career ending, and he surely would have wanted to win more major titles before riding off into the sunset, but for Thiem, it was still more than he ever could have hoped for.
“I think the basic reason why I’m here now retiring pretty young is still the bad luck with the wrist injury,” Thiem said Monday afternoon. “But again, like, I’m really happy with the career I had before. I never expected [to] be that successful, so I don’t have really any regrets, and…
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