Dominic Thiem addresses not receiving wild card for French Open

Dominic Thiem has voiced his thoughts after not receiving a wild card for the French Open. The former Grand Slam champion debuted successfully in the tournament's qualifying rounds, aiming for a final main draw appearance for one of the best clay court players of recent years.

At 30 years old and with 17 ATP titles, Thiem recently announced his retirement from professional tennis. The Austrian has achieved significant milestones, including winning the 2020 US Open and the Indian Wells Masters 1000, along with reaching the finals of the 2018 and 2019 French Open and the 2020 Australian Open.

Thiem recently competed in the qualifying rounds of the Madrid Open and Monte-Carlo Masters but was defeated in both, failing to make it to the main draw. Additionally, he has only secured one win in his last eight Grand Slam appearances.

This Monday, the Suzanne Lenglen court was packed with spectators eager to see Thiem (No. 131), who fought back from a set down to secure victory against world No. 228 Franco Agamenone (3-6, 6-3, 6-2) in 2 hours and 19 minutes. His next challenge will be against Finland’s Otto Virtanen (No. 156), with a potential final qualifying round against either Giulio Zeppieri (No. 148) or Adrian Andreev (No. 236).

After his hard-fought victory, Thiem was asked for his opinion on not receiving a wild card from the organisers. The Austrian downplayed the significance, acknowledging that he hadn’t performed well enough recently to earn direct entry into the draw:

“Honestly, I had a long time to be in a good ranking. I had enough tournaments and enough time to climb up the ranking and I didn’t do it, so I kind of didn’t deserve it and that’s fine. I had 10 main draw appearances in the last years so that’s more than enough.”

Thiem is one of the most successful players at Roland Garros over the past decade. He reached the finals twice, in 2018 and 2019, but was defeated by Rafael Nadal on both occasions. He also reached the semi-finals in 2016 (lost to Djokovic) and 2017 (lost to Nadal), compiling a 28-10 record at the tournament (74%).

Given his announced retirement at the end of this season, many expected the French Open organisers to grant Thiem a wild card for the main draw. However, the organisers allocated six of their eight wild cards to local players, with one going to Aussie Walton through an agreement with the Australian Federation and another to Nicolas Moreno de Alboran through an agreement with the USTA.