Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem, who retired from tennis in 2024, has decided to return to competitive sport. No, he is not making a comeback to Arthur Ashe Stadium this time. Instead, the former World No. 3 is stepping onto the football pitch in Austria’s lower leagues.
The move marks an intriguing second chapter for the 32-year-old, whose promising tennis career came to an emotional close due to persistent injury struggles.
Thiem officially called time on his professional tennis career at the end of the 2024 season, playing his final Grand Slam match at Flushing Meadows, the venue of his crowning achievement. After capturing the 2020 US Open title, a severe wrist injury suffered in 2021 sidelined him for months and ultimately prevented him from recapturing his peak form.
Speaking after his first-round exit to Ben Shelton at the 2024 US Open, Thiem admitted he was at peace with his decision to step away.
“I was struggling enough the last years, especially since I was not able to come back to my level, but once I took the decision this year in March, I was happy about it,” Thiem said at the time. “I loved playing on tour, but I also always really enjoyed being home and having kind of a normal life. The basic reason why I’m retiring pretty young is the bad luck with the wrist injury, but I don’t really have any regrets.”
That desire for a “normal life”, combined with a lifelong love of football, has now led him to the grass pitches of Lower Austria.
According to reports, Thiem has officially registered with Badener AC, an amateur club competing in the eighth division of Austrian football. His transition was not entirely out of nowhere. Following his ATP retirement, he made 10 competitive appearances and scored a goal for his hometown club, SC Lichtenwrth, before deciding to join Badener AC through a mutual friend.
Despite his status as a Grand Slam champion and former World No. 3, Thiem will not be receiving superstar privileges in the dressing room. Badener AC’s management confirmed to local newspaper NN that while they are excited to have a world-class athlete on the roster, the former tennis star will have to fight for a place in the starting XI just like everyone else.
“Since training hasn’t started yet, I can’t say much about the new signings. We’ve heard he’s also a good footballer,” says Petrovic. However, BAC has no doubts about the transfer itself: “He has a friend at the club, and I expect he’ll actually play here.”
For Thiem, who spent over a decade performing under intense pressure in front of tens of thousands of fans, trading packed stadiums for local club grounds offers the perfect outlet: keeping his competitive fire alive, purely for the love of the game.
THIEM’S LAST TENNIS MATCH
Dominic Thiem officially pulled the curtains down on his professional tennis career on October 22, 2024, following a straight-sets defeat to Italy’s Luciano Darderi in the first round of the Vienna Open. Playing in front of a passionate home crowd at the Vienna Stadthalle, the 31-year-old Austrian fell 6-7 (6), 2-6 in a match that lasted 91 minutes.
Thiem made a promising start to his final appearance, breaking early to take a 4-2 lead in the opening set. He even earned a set point during the tiebreak, but the 22-year-old Darderi saved it before clinching the hard-fought 59-minute opening set. As the match progressed, the former World No. 3 ran out of steam, allowing World No. 42 Darderi to dominate the second set with two breaks of serve and seal the win.
The defeat marked the 563rd and final match of an promising career hampered in recent years by a lingering 2021 wrist injury. Following the match, Thiem received a warm standing ovation from nearly 10,000 fans as he placed his racket in a glass display case on court.
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