Thiem: "The way we practice this sport is not healthy"

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This year 2024 will be one of those remembered for being plagued by great retirements that will endure in memory. Andy Murray, Rafa Nadal, and Dominic Thiem hang up their rackets, and fans will take time to come to terms with the losses. In the case of the Austrian, the retirement hurts for the career that could have been and was not. That wrist injury in Mallorca in 2021 was the beginning of the end, an injury that would have many more consequences than expected.

After reaching the pinnacle of success by crowning himself in an epic battle against Alexander Zverev at the US Open 2020, Thiem seemed to have broken down the last barrier. Now a brighter future than ever seemed imminent for him. However, that would be all there was, that would be the last time the Austrian touched the sky with his fingers.

Now, at 31 years old, Thiem can see from a different perspective how his career and work methodology have been. His tennis has always been characterized by being very intense, physical, working from sunup to sundown, and competing almost without pause. It ended up taking its toll. "That's how I grew up, with a training style with a lot of intensity and really giving 100% on every stroke. That was very demanding physically. And also, from a very early age, I got used to training a lot, like three or four hours in a row, or three hours twice a day," he confessed to The Guardian.

All that hard work it took to win his first Grand Slam also ended up causing him to reach his limit, both physically and mentally. The severe wrist injury he would suffer just nine months later was the tangible evidence of that. It was very difficult for him to regain confidence in his shots, in his tennis, and, of course, to maintain that work style until then. "In recent years, it was very difficult for me to maintain that training volume. The wrist could not withstand that training volume, and also, the other parts of the body were aging more and more," he said.

Tremendous physical wear

His doubts about his joint led him to perdition, and although he already felt better, nothing was the same as before, something broke that month of June 2021. Thus, he also wants to exemplify with his case that tennis today is very demanding in physical terms: "I think the way we practice this sport is not healthy, and at some point, one or more parts of the body break. It's something that can be seen in almost all players; there is no player who has not suffered injuries throughout their career.

This is professional sports, and in my case, it was the wrist. It's not very surprising because obviously I used the wrist a lot, especially on the forehand stroke, and it was one of my most important parts in the last moments before hitting the ball to speed up a bit more with the wrist. I probably did it millions of times, and at some point, that's also what the doctor said. The wrist weakened a bit and then broke. After that, I never had the same feeling again.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Thiem: "La forma en que practicamos este deporte no es saludable"