Thiem, 31, retired from tennis on October 22 after suffering defeat to Luciano Darderi at the Vienna Open.

The Austrian was given a standing ovation in front of his home fans as bid farewell from a sport in which he made such a profound impact.

What did Patrick Mouratoglou say about Dominic Thiem’s retirement?

Dominic Thiem has received plenty of tributes after deciding to bring an end to his tennis career. The former World number three chose to hang up his racket after injuries began to take their toll on his body.

Before playing in Vienna, Thiem took part in the UTS tournament in Frankfurt, a shorter and faster-paced format of tennis created by Patrick Mouratoglou. After Thiem had finished playing, the other players celebrated him and his career, and the Frenchman loved it.

“It was a fantastic moment after his match at UTS Frankfurt. We did a celebration for him and the players all stayed because they wanted to be there. At 10pm, the end of the match, all the players of UTS stayed,” he told the Tennis Weekly podcast.

“They wanted to be on the court for him, it says a lot about how they feel for him. Then they came to him, they hugged him and threw him up. That was crazy. Of course, we remember he beat all the players in the world many times – not just one time.

“He’s a Grand Slam winner. His achievements are huge, especially playing at the same time as Roger, Rafa and Novak. He is an incredible player but I think more than anything we will remember him as someone who gave 100% all the time. He’s an incredible worker and fighter.”

When did Dominic Thiem realise he may have to retire from tennis?

Thiem was one of the most intense players on tour and his aggressive style brought him plenty of success on the ATP Tour.

He pushed the ‘Big 3’ of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to the limit and challenged them more than most.

But following his US Open win in 2020 and a run to that year’s ATP Finals, Thiem’s injury woes began the following season and he was never the same.

He spent three years trying to return to his best level, but over the last two years he came to the sad realisation that he would have to quit.

“The last couple of years, it was so difficult to keep up with that [high] volume,” he told The Guardian. “The wrist was not able to hold up with that volume of practice, and also the other parts of the body got older and older.”

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