"I'm constantly thinking of a life beyond tennis": Thiem already thinking away from tennis amid injury troubles

Dominic Thiem's comeback is not going very well and another loss last night in Chile further complicates things for the former top 5 player.

Thiem suffered a wrist injury in Mallorca last year and since then he's been on a mission to come back to his level. While producing solid levels at times, Thiem simply can't produce the level he had before. Some have started suggesting that he'll never return to his best and it's looking more and more likely with each bad defeat.

He himself admitted in an interview that he does think about life after tennis:

"I’m constantly thinking of a life beyond tennis. I think that tennis was, for a long time, the only part of my life, which is good in one way but if you’re getting older it’s not good anymore, you need a life beyond tennis, you need other thoughts in your head, other things to do and the injury time out and tough time to come back helped me in those terms and I’m very happy about it."

For the longest time, Thiem defined himself only by his results which he now understands was the wrong way to go about it. He's in a much better place right now:

"I was defining myself only by results for a long time, which is not mentally healthy. I'm going to do my best in every match, what will happen I can't predict."