Thiem Admits To Thoughts About Stopping After Injury
ATPThursday, 13 April 2023 at 13:00
Updated at Monday, 21 April 2025 at 18:42
Dominic Thiem thought about quitting tennis, but he was never close to it due to a fire burning inside of him to give it a try.
The Austrian's career took a turn for the worse in Mallorca when he injured his wrist during a match with Adrian Mannarino. He missed a long time with the injury due to rushing back for the US Open, where he would have been the defending champion, re-injuring it in practice.
A conservative approach saw him miss even more time, eventually returning on clay the following year, but his tennis was poor. It's still quite poor, with only a few glimpses of his old self back. It was a tough time for him, but he never lost hope despite thinking about quitting.
"There were many, many very tough moments, but somehow, deep inside, there was the feeling that I still have something in me, or at least I want to give it a try. If I hadn’t had this feeling deep inside me, I probably would have stopped."
"On the surface (it looked like) I lost it (hope), I guess. But deep inside me, there was always this small fire, this small light. If I hadn’t had it then, yeah, I would have stopped, probably."
Thiem recently split with long-time coach Nicolas Massu, who was his coach for four years. It was an excellent relationship, but ultimately, both parties agreed to look for a new challenge. Thiem opened up about how the split came to be.
"What was very, very good, I felt that it was completely both-sided. When we had the talk after the match in Estoril (last week), Nico told me that if I wouldn’t have looked for the talk, he would have done it the same night. So that was very positive."
"I think no matter how great a relationship is, how great success is, it’s pretty normal in sports to look for something new, to open up a new chapter. And that’s what happened now. I’m feeling good. I’m feeling very good about the years with Nico and also I’m very happy about what’s coming up."
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