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Dominic Thiem's misery continued on the court, off it he also received a tirade of abuse in the comments of his social media posts after a loss at a Challenger again to a player ranked inside the top 200.
Thiem was defeated by Lukas Neumayer who cruised 6-2, 6-1 to reach the Quarter-Finals in Kadar. Since then he withdrew from a Challenge 125 in Naples and is only slated to return at the Estoril Open. He said at the turn of the year that if progress isn't imminent he may retire.
He was beset with a torrent of abuse after this latest defeat though with most of the commenters telling him to do it now and retire from the sport and asked how he ever became a Grand Slam champion. Thiem since returning from wrist surgery has not been the same player and has never strung together much consistency. He joined forces with the former coach of Borna Coric, but has gone backwards instead so there will be some real soul searching going on likely in the week where he will not play now in Naples.
"What are you waiting for Domi, you are embarrassing yourself and your team. Maybe with this result you just let it go, it's over you won't achieve anything else," one comment wrote. "Your mentality and your tennis isn't there and won't come back. Knowing when to retire is important too, you are just a shade on court."
"It's time to retire Thiem, don't break our heart again," another wrote. "I cannot believe that you won a Grand Slam *clown emoji* retire."