Defending US Open champion Dominic Thiem announced that he will miss the 2021 edition of the tournament – and the rest of the season – due to an ongoing wrist injury.
The 27-year-old tennis star said he hasn’t recovered from the injury he sustained at the Mallorca Open in June, which was the last tournament he played before withdrawing from Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics earlier this summer.
“I am really disappointed not to be able to defend the title in New York,” he posted on his Twitter account. “This past six weeks, I’ve been following medical advice, wearing the wrist splint, doing exercise to stay in shape before starting to train back on court. My recovery was going really well, but then last week I hit a ball during training and started to feel some pain again. I went straight to see the doctors.”
“After some tests, they said that my wrist needs some more time, so we’ve all agreed on being conservative and to give my wrist some time to recover. I’ll wear the wrist splint for a couple more weeks before starting with exercises and then training with the racquet again,” he added.
World No. 6 Thiem, who won his first grand slam in 2020 when he beat 2020 Olympic champion Alexander Zverev at the US Open final, spent some time away from the game after his victory – not touching his racquet until he was ready to return.
However, he has had little success since then, notably suffering an early exit in the first round of Roland Garros in May before sustaining the wrist injury in June.
“It has been a tough decision to make but I know this is what I have to do. I have a long career ahead of me and it’s important not to take risks and rush back - which I hope you understand,” Thiem said.
“I want to thank you all for the support that you have given me so far. It really means a lot to me and gives me a lot of strength and helps me stay positive in this difficult time,” he added.
Thiem adds his name to the list of big names missing out on Flushing Meadows after tennis great Roger Federer withdrew from the US Open earlier this month after announcing further knee surgery.
The 2021 US Open is scheduled to begin on August 30, and runs through September 12 in New York.
