Thiem back to training with a racquet, announces splint is off

Dominic Thiem is making steady progress in his recovery from a wrist injury sustained at the Mallorca Open over a month ago.

The Austrian player was playing a very good match against Mannarino at the Mallorca Open over a month ago when he felt a crack in his wrist. Thiem felt sudden pain immediately and stopped play only to retire minutes later. The injury was revealed a partial tear in the wrist which required a splint.

Weeks later Thiem was seen training and doing racquet work albeit with his left hand. He could use his right hand as long as the splint was on however the Austrian revealed recently that the splint is officially off.

In a photo posted on his Instagram, Thiem is shown holding smiling while holding the splint with his right hand. In his left hand, he has a racquet. In the caption, he wrote: 'swapping the splint for my racket again'. Less than a month before he is set to defend his US Open title, Thiem is back to officially using his racquet again.

Whether he will be able to build up enough tolerance to compete at the highest level for several hours remains to be seen but it's a great sign for all Domi fans. The Austrian has spoken eagerly about his motivation to defend his US Open title which many proclaimed 'undervalued' because he did not face Nadal, Djokovic or Federer en route to winning it.