Dominic Thiem will soon retire from professional tennis, but he doesn't see himself back as a coach anytime soon.
The Austrian player can certainly look back on his tennis career and be happy about it. At the end of the day, he's a Grand Slam champion, and he constantly challenged the three greatest tennis players of all time during his career.
After a wrist injury that kept him out of play for a long time, Thiem was never the same player again, and after a couple of years of struggles, he chose to end his professional tennis career.
His career will end at the 2024 Vienna Open, where he drew Luciano Darderi in the first round of the ATP 500 tournament in what might be his last professional tennis match.
Days before his official retirement, the 31-year-old sat down with tennis publication Tennis Majors to speak about his tennis career, but also his plans after the retirement.
The Austrian player admitted that he plans to work at his tennis academy, where he wants to help junior players grow, as he feels the need to give back to the sport.
"There is our tennis academy. I think I can have some weeks off to get a little bit of distance from tennis. But then I really want to help young players to develop and to make the step from a junior to a professional player. I want to give back to tennis, as tennis gave me so much."
Despite wanting to give back to the sport, he won't immediately do it through coaching on Tour. When asked about that specifically, Thiem admitted that he has no plans to turn into a coach immediately after his retirement, but he didn't rule out some type of involvement in the future.
"In the future I don’t know but right now, I don’t want to or I’m not planning to come back as a touring coach. I’m a bit tired of travelling, especially far away. And there are way better tennis coaches than me."
Still, he feels like he has plenty of experience that could be helpful for young players who want to make it to professional tennis.
"But for sure, I had a lot of experiences which can be very helpful for young players. Especially, I would say in the age from 15 to 20 or 21, when there’s a lot going on and you have to make that step."
Thiem also recognized that his breakthrough on the ATP Tour wasn't as rapid as that of Carlos Alcaraz, for example, but he knows that every player is different and that he can contribute in many different ways.
"I didn’t come up that fast like, for example, Carlos Alcaraz or many other young players. It took a while. I had to suffer a lot as well. I’m planning more on this. I want to help Austrian players or even others. The academy is international. So, yeah, it doesn’t matter from where the players are coming."