Dominic Thiem claims playing in the Big Three era and competing against them at the highest possible level was one of the reasons that led to a wrist injury that basically ruined his career.

When Thiem – who is now 30 years old – started establishing himself as one of the best players in the game around 2016, it didn’t take long before he started facing Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer on the biggest stage in the latter stages of tournaments.

Famously, Thiem’s first title on grass came in 2016 after he defeated Federer en route to winning Stuttgart. A few years later, Thiem also won his maiden Masters title in Indian Wells after beating Federer and ultimately finished with a 5-2 head-to-head versus the Swiss tennis icon.

Against Nadal, Thiem clinched six wins in their 16 meetings but heartbreakingly lost back-to-back French Open finals to the Spaniard in 2018 and 2019. Thiem also had success against Djokovic – going 5-7 there – but he devastatingly lost from two sets to one down against the Serb in the 2020 Australian Open final.

A couple of months after that heartbreaking loss, Thiem became a Grand Slam champion at the 2020 US Open. Shortly after that, the Austrian picked up a wrist injury – from which he recovered after 10 months but was never again the same.

Thiem: Competing against the Big Three was intense, the doctors told me it contributed…

In order to be where he was, Thiem needed to constantly work on his game but also fitness to be able to endure the challenges of competing against such a strong competition.

“I was competing with the three greatest [Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic]. That was intense. It certainly contributed to the injury. But also, all the years before, I always had a big workload and intensity in my practice. It’s something that doctors and many other people have said… that at some point, the wrist broke because of all the shots I did, all the hard practices I did, all the years before. I was always striving to get better and get even closer to the best players in the world,” Thiem told The Athletic.

“I consider myself lucky to have been a part of that timeline with the Big 3 and all the other great players. I came up to the top 100 way later than most; they came up when they were like 18… whereas I was 20 and a half. I didn’t think it would be possible for me to become a Grand Slam champion and #3 in the world.”

Thiem felt already in 2020 that ‘something wasn’t right’

In his US Open farewell and returning to the place where his first and lone Slam title, Thiem – who is set to turn 31 next week – revealed how he noticed four years in New York that something just wasn’t right. But fortunately for Thiem, he was able to turn around the 2020 US Open final and beat Alexander Zverev 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (6).

Before that match, Thiem had lost three Grand Slam finals. And everything that happened in those matches – from the physical to the mental aspect – left a toll on the Austrian.

“I already felt before the match (the 2020 US Open final against Zverev) that something was not right. I wasn’t getting into the zone or the flow. And that’s how the first two sets went — they were way too tense, too nervous. Sascha [Zverev] was playing really well. The pressure was so high. I was thinking back to my previous finals. Maybe it’s less pressure to face the greatest players of all time. Because the US Open, I had to win [in those circumstances], and that was really tough,” Thiem recounted.

“Every Grand Slam final felt like it could be the last one, because the journey is really tough. You have to beat great players, you have to stay healthy. Many, many little things have to come together. When I played Sascha, it was like now or never. When I was two sets down, luckily I released a bit and he also started to think a bit more that he’s very close to the title.”

After suffering a wrist injury in 2021 June and undergoing surgery, Thiem returned in the spring of 2022 but never managed to rediscover his old form although he was doing everything he could to make that possible.

The start of the 2024 season didn’t bring any different, and after probably realizing that he would never again be a top player, Thiem announced in May that he was playing his last year on the Tour.