Coco Gauff echoes Dominic Thiem's eye-opening thoughts on becoming a Grand Slam champion

Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem has announced he will retire at the 2024 Vienna Open, in front of thousands of home fans. The former World No.3 shared his opinion on the misconceptions of winning a Grand Slam title, sentiments that were backed by American tennis prodigy Coco Gauff.

After winning his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2020 US Open, Thiem was touted as the successor to the Big Three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. However, a lingering wrist injury kept him sidelined for extended periods of time after his biggest triumph. After several attempts at a comeback, Thiem announced he would be hanging up his racket at this home event in Vienna.

Prior to his final appearance in Vienna, Thiem spoke on several topics, including how it feels to win a Grand Slam title. The 31-year old admitted it was not as life-changing as he had hoped.

“Honestly, when I look back, I realize that I gave it too much importance,” Thiem said. “I thought it would make me happy forever, that it would change my life… but that’s not how it is. It’s an illusion.
"The truth is that nothing changed. And honestly, if in 20 years, I’m still here, no one will care if I was a Grand Slam champion or not. At that moment, I didn’t think that way. I thought that if I didn’t win a Grand Slam, my career wouldn’t be good, and I would always have doubts.
“It wasn’t an easy situation. It’s very nice to have that trophy at home, but in the end, it’s just a trophy; it shouldn’t make a difference in life. That’s how I see it now.”

Upon learning of Thiem's comments, Gauff shared them on an Instagram story, along with the caption - "Real". The American superstar also won her maiden Grand Slam title at the 2023 US Open, although she did so at just 19 years of age, whereas Thiem was 27 when he won his first Major.