Tennis: The final chapter of Tim's remarkable career

Like Thomas Muster, Thiem sparked tennis euphoria in Austria. The Lower Austrian side managed to register a total of 17 championships, including home victories in Kitzbühel and Vienna. In September 2022, at the US Open in New York, Thiem became only the second Austrian after Thomas Muster to be included in the list of winners of a Grand Slam tournament.

Along with Muster, who has won 44 titles, including a French Open win and a World No. 1 ranking, and is the most successful homegrown tennis player of all time, Thiem has entered the history books as the sport's homegrown greatest. In 2020 he was also named “Austrian Athlete of the Year”. Tim was in the top 10 for about five and a half years and was in third place for about a year. June 22, 2021 was a turning point: a serious wrist injury threw the Lower Austria team off the track. At 31 it was over.

In addition to the many beautiful moments experienced by tennis fans, what remained was a bitter aftertaste because of the ending, especially because of the great potential of the Lower Austrian player, whose one-handed backhand was considered a trademark. Thiem also led all-time greats Roger Federer (record: 5:2 wins), Rafael Nadal (6:10) and Novak Djokovic (5:7) to despair. Along with Andy Murray, Thiem is the only player to have five wins against the 'Big Three'.

The US Open title is a highlight

Four years ago, it still seemed as if Tim could break into the Chosen Circle permanently. With a five-set win over Zverev after trailing 2-0 in the US Open final, he achieved his big goal. And not, as everyone expected, at Roland Garros, where he had already reached the final twice and was considered the “crown prince” of clay court king Rafael Nadal, but at Flushing Meadows – with Arthur Ashe Stadium on the biggest stage and still in the middle in front of the empty stands during Coronavirus pandemic.

However, the US Open title was not the liberation he had hoped for. According to his own statement, the fire has been temporarily extinguished: “There are players who are immediately excited about winning the next Grand Slam title. It wasn't like that for me, I'm a different man. “It took me a while to accept that,” Tim said later, looking back. At the end of 2020, he was still making waves at the ATP Finals Eight of the Year with victories over Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, among others, narrowly losing in the final.

Steady decline since 2021

But things did not go as planned in 2021 even before the fatal injury. The semi-final in Madrid was great. In Melbourne he was eliminated in the round of 16 as last year's finalist, and at the French Open he lost in the first round. This was followed by the major physical setback for Mallorca. Word: wrist. After just 280 days, Thiem returned to the Challenger in Marbella in March 2022. There began a run of seven defeats, followed by a drop to 352nd in the world rankings (June 13, 2022). Thiem reached the semi-finals in Gstaad, Gijon and Antwerp. It reached number 100 for one week that year.

Reaching the Kitzbühel final in 2023 was the highlight. At the end of the year, Tim thought out loud about quitting for the first time. The goal for 2024 was to top 50, but that quickly became out of reach. The old infection was reported at the end of March. “This weird feeling in the wrist is back with a slight pain,” Tim said. The Lower Austrian withdrew more and more into his family environment. Father Wolfgang again became his coach, and younger brother Moritz his manager. But the road to the sports pension was unstoppable.

The 31-year-old can still look back on his career with satisfaction. Tim has lived up to all the early praise as a teenager. “The guy never asked me when training was over,” his coach Gunter Bresnik once said. This attitude, as well as the significant financial and time commitment from Tim's entire family, have been important building blocks for success. Swiss superstar Federer called the Austrian a “superstar” at the 2019 French Open. This is how Thiem will be remembered in Austria when he says his final farewell in the city hall. There, where his career really began in 2011 with a win over Foreter Muster.