Dominic
Thiem
Austria
·
Tennis
Date of birth | 3 September 1993 |
|---|---|
Place of birth | Lichtenwörth, Austria |
Age | 32 |
Nationality | Austria |
Career start | 2011 |
Disciplines | Tennis Singles / Tennis Doubles |
Dominic ‘Domi’ Thiem started playing tennis at the age of six and got his pro break at 18 after winning a wildcard for the Generali Open in Kitzbühel, Austria, in 2011. Coming from a family of tennis players – his parents are tennis coaches and his brother also plays – it’s no surprise that he’s pursuing a career in tennis, despite also loving football and skiing.
Thiem's first match win at main level came in 2011 on the ATP World Tour in a match against countryman Thomas Muster at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna and the wins kept coming. He won four ITF Futures tournaments in 2012, stepping up to a level to land three Challenger titles in 2013. Then in 2014 he ranked in the top 100 of the ATP world singles. That same year he made the second and third rounds at Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid, where he also enjoyed his first win against a top-10 player, the number three-ranked Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.
In 2015 Thiem won his first title on the ATP World Tour, which earned him a world ranking of 31 and the following year he rose to the top 15 after winning against the Spaniard Nicolás Almagro in Buenos Aires.
The 2016 season saw Thiem enter the world's top 10 for the first time (at number seven) after making the French Open semi-finals and he went on to beat Swiss legend Roger Federer in the semi-finals in Stuttgart. He won the Stuttgart title in the finals, making him the first Austrian to win a title on grass at a tour level tournament.
The 2017 season saw Thiem winning his second ATP 500 title in Rio de Janeiro and reaching his first Masters 1000 final (in Madrid) and by the end of that campaign he'd achieved a career-high ranking of number four in the world.
In 2018 he won his 11th ATP Open title at St Petersburg, made the Madrid final again and secured another breakthrough when he reached his first Grand Slam final (at the French Open), ending the season with another appearance at the World Tour Finals and ending the year inside the world's top 10 again.
His 2019 season saw Thiem land his biggest title to date when he defeated Roger Federer in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
That Masters 1000 level win meant that he moved up to a career-high of number four in the world rankings and he followed that up with another French Open final in June where he was beaten in the title match by Rafael Nadal again.
In July of the 2019 season Thiem achieved a lifetime ambition by becoming the first Austrian since the legendary Thomas Muster in 1993 to win the title in Kitzbühel.
"It's already one of my most beautiful moments ever in my tennis career – I reached one big childhood goal today," he revealed after defeating Albert Ramos in the final.
He completed another childhood goal in October, when he won the second Austrian ATP Tour event, Vienna's Erste Bank Open, to secure both home tournament titles in the same season – something that even Muster failed to do (Muster lost in three Vienna finals, never winning the title).
"It’s been an unbelievable year for me in Austria, to win titles in Kitzbühel and now here in Vienna," Thiem said. "I've had some troubles to deliver my best tennis in front of these amazing crowds in Kitzbühel and also here in Vienna and now, in the same year, I win both titles. It's completely unreal to me," he added.
And Thiem rounded off a hugely impressive 2019 campaign, with some great results on faster surfaces that he had previously struggled on – indoor and outdoor hard courts.
A title at the ATP 500 China Open in Beijing preceded a run to the final indoors (lost in a final set tie break) at the season-ending ATP Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London, with the improvements in his hard court play in evidence again.
In February 2020 Thiem again made a major final, this time on hard courts at the Australian Open in Melbourne, losing out in a thrilling five-setter to Novak Djokovic. Then, in September 2020, Thiem won his first Grand Slam title in dramatic fashion after fighting back from two sets down to beat Germany's Alexander Zverev at the US Open in New York City.
"I dedicated basically my whole life until this point to win one of the four majors," said Thiem after securing his US Open title "Now I did it – that's also for myself a great accomplishment."
Thiem then rounded off the season by finishing as the runner-up at the ATP Tour Finals.
Injuries put paid to the majority of Thiem's 2021 season and he saw his ranking suffer as he fell outside of the top 300. However, he made his return in 2022 and began to challenge for titles once again.
Now fully fit, Thiem reached his first tour-level final in three years in 2023 at home in Kitzbühel, Austria and will hope he can continue to improve his ranking and add to his already impressive trophy collection.