Dominic Thiem suffers worst loss of professional tennis career as woes continue for former US Open champion

Dominic Thiem skipped the Sunshine Double and suffered the worst defeat of his career at the Szekesfehervar Challenger in Hungary. The former US Open champion entered the tournament as the favorite, ranked world No. 91, which should have allowed him to avoid other seeded players at least in the first two rounds.

However, Thiem failed to advance in the tournament, further extending his slump in his career. The Austrian was eliminated by Polish player Daniel Michalski, ranked world No. 295, with a score of 3-6, 4-6, continuing his negative streak. Just as Thiem suffered his worst defeat, 24-year-old Michalski achieved his best victory, marking his first win over a top-100 player.

So far this year, Thiem has exited in the first round of the ATP 250 Brisbane International (after qualifying) and the Australian Open. His only victory came in the Davis Cup while representing Austria, where he faced Ireland's Michael Agwi, a player ranked outside the top 900.

The Austrian had previously suffered losses against lower-ranked players, although always against players returning from long injuries. This was the case in early 2024 when Nadal (No. 672) defeated him in Brisbane, albeit in Nadal's first tournament after a year of injury.

The same situation occurred in 2014 against Viktor Troicki, who was ranked No. 847 due to an injury but was just returning from one after having been No. 12 a year earlier.

Adding to these are the cases in 2015 against Mischa Zverev (No. 502) and in 2016 against Jurgen Melzer (No. 421). Both were coming back from prolonged injuries that caused them to drop from their respective rankings of No. 45 and No. 8. However, all these cases pale in comparison to his defeat against Michalski, who has never entered the top 200 in his career.