Dominic Thiem has no regrets about retiring at the 2024 Vienna Open, but the 31-year-old was satisfied with how he played in his final match, especially in the first set.
Thiem had already enjoyed a memorable retirement ceremony on Sunday at the tournament. He played an exhibition set with Alexander Zverev, who the Austrian defeated in the 2020 US Open final.
Several tributes were then made to Thiem by those inside the stadium and by video. Roger Federer said their friendship was important to him, and he was also one of the fairest guys on the ATP Tour.
Novak Djokovic also made heartfelt remarks about Thiem. The 24-time Grand Slam champion thanked him for everything he had given tennis and was happy that the 2020 Australian Open runner-up got the chance to retire on home soil.
Thiem deserved those tributes after an outstanding career that also included two French Open finals, being the runner-up at the ATP Finals on two occasions, and beating Federer in the 2019 Indian Wells Open final.
The Austrian has also reflected on his career in recent days. During an interview, Thiem admitted that winning the 2020 US Open did not change his life as expected, and things soon returned to normal.
The fans in Vienna created an incredible atmosphere during Thiem's match against Luciano Darderi, trying to push their local hero to extend his career by another match by beating the Italian.
On paper, Darderi was quite a good draw for Thiem. The 22-year-old had only managed one victory in 11 hard-court matches before the Vienna Open, meaning he looked beatable.
However, Darderi raised his level, but so did Thiem in the opening set. The pair entertained fans with some great shot-making before the Italian narrowly took it on a tiebreak after the home favorite could not convert a set point.
Thiem's level dropped in the second set, and he lost his final match 6-7, 2-6. But the four-time Grand Slam finalist expressed happiness with his performance in an interview afterward, feeling he played beyond his maximum level in the opening set.
"In the first set I was playing my maximum, or even over it. I thought that I was playing pretty good tennis, even had a set point. So, I'm very happy with that first set actually."
At the same time, Thiem knows his maximum level is not as good as it used to be. He also felt that playing few matches in recent months since announcing his retirement contributed to the second set not matching the level of the first.
"My level is not quite there yet anymore.... Then in the second one, there were little amount of matches in the last period and that's why I lost a little bit of tension and he was running away."
"I was playing some forehands, especially in the second set that were not coming to the net and then again I saw that it is actually the right decision, so all good... for sure."
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