The Roland Garros tournament organizers released a list of wild cards for this year's edition, and the obvious surprise was that Dominic Thiem's name was missing.
This year's French Open will begin on Sunday, May 26th, and 128 men and women will compete to win the singles competitions. The entry lists of the ATP and WTA players who will enter the main draw based on ranking are well-known.
But there was plenty of speculation about the players who would benefit from the eight wild card slots, and the announcement was not what many tennis fans expected to hear.
Thiem, who was twice a finalist at the tournament (2018 and 2019)—losing to Rafael Nadal— and a former US Open champion recently announced that he will retire from professional tennis at the end of the season.
Since injuring his wrist at the 2021 Mallorca Open, Thiem has long struggled to rediscover his peak form despite his constant pursuit of excellence. He tweaked his schedule, changed coaches, and even played predominantly on the Challengers, but none of that bore fruit.
Eventually, he decided that he would not be playing beyond 2024. With that in mind, Thiem was expected to embark on a farewell tour, gracing most of the big events, especially the Grand Slams, one final time.
His record at Roland Garros and his success on clay is well documented. Aside from finishing as a runner-up on two occasions in Paris, Thiem won 10 of his 17 career titles on the dirt, the last of which was in his home country when he lifted the Kitzbuhel Open in 2019.
The French Open's announcement has irked tennis fans, with several describing the decision as "shocking" and "shameful" in equal measure. Another disgruntled fan labeled the tournament as a "disgrace" and said that snubbing Thiem of a wild card is a "real embarrassment."
Thiem is outside the world's Top 100 and doesn't meet the cut-off entry ranking for a main draw spot. He must play qualifying, which begins on Monday, May 20th, to reach the main draw.
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