Dominic Thiem was born on September 3, 1993, in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. His parents, Wolfgang and Karin Thiem, are tennis coaches and have worked at the Gunter Bresnik’s Academy in Vienna. Thiem was introduced to tennis at the age of six by his parents.
His father, Wolfgang Thiem, became his first tennis coach. At the age of nine, his father delegated coaching duties to Gunter Bresnik. Under Bresnik’s guidance and advice, Thiem switched to a single-handed backhand. Thiem played his first junior tournament at the age of 14 in 2008.
His first title on the ITF junior circuit arrived the following season when he won the Preveza Cup in Greece, classified as a Grade 5 tournament. The biggest match he contested at this level was the 2011 Roland Garros boys’ final. He lost to American lefty Bjorn Fratangelo in three sets.
Thiem peaked at a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the juniors. Thiem turned professional in 2011 and quickly received wild cards to play at three ATP events in Kitzbuhel, Bangkok, and Vienna. It was in his country’s capital where he scored his first ATP match win, beating countryman Thomas Muster in the first round in a match featuring one of the largest age gaps between two opponents (Thiem was 18 when he played a 44-year-old Muster).
Thiem broke the ATP’s Top 100 for the first time in 2014. He earned his first Grand Slam match win at the Australian Open, beating Joao Sousa in four sets. That same year, he reached his first ATP final in Kitzbuhel, losing to David Goffin in three sets.
Thiem broke his duck the following season, winning his first Tour-level title in Nice, France. Two more titles followed later that year in Umag and Gstaad, announcing himself as a premier clay-court performer. His strong results on the dirt enabled him to break the world’s Top 20 at the end of the 2015 season. In 2016, he established himself as a Top 10 player.
Thiem also advanced into his first Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. He would qualify for the ATP Finals for the first time but exited in the group stage. Thiem reached his first Grand Slam final at the 2018 Roland Garros but lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
He won his first Masters title in Indian Wells in the subsequent season, beating Roger Federer in the final. The tournament also marked a moment of immense transformation as Thiem played under the tutelage of Nicolas Massu after parting ways with Gunter Bresnik, who had been his coach since childhood.
Thiem knocked at the door of another Grand Slam final but came up short again in the French Open showpiece in 2019, losing to Nadal in four sets. But his crowning moment came in 2020 when he won the US Open. Thiem also achieved a Top 3 ranking for the first time in his career after his Grand Slam success.
Thiem finished runner-up at the ATP Finals for the second year in a row in 2020. Thiem suffered a debilitating wrist injury in 2021, which forced him on the sidelines for nine months. His ranking dipped to outside the Top 300 in 2022. Thiem relied on a protected ranking and wild cards to play at Tour-level tournaments.
He would also drop down to the Challengers to restore his confidence and build his ranking. In 2023, he rejoined the Top 100 and is now a mainstay, reaching his first ATP final in three years in Kitzbuhel, where he lost to Sebastian Baez in straight sets.
