Dominic Thiem pulls out of Australian Open as he continues to recover from wrist injury
- Sean Fisher
- 28 December 2021
The 28-year-old has not played competitively since suffering a wrist injury in June, and has decided to push back his return until after January's Australian Open.
Dominic Thiem has pulled out of next month's Australian Open, stating that it will aid the recovery of his wrist injury he suffered back in June.
It hindered the 28-year-old Austrian from defending his US Open title last year, while he was also absent from Wimbledon, resulting in his overall ranking slipping to No.15 in the world.
Thiem would've been looking forward to returning to the Australian Open, where he finished runner-up in 2020.
That year's title went to Novak Djokovic, who might also miss out on this year's event with ongoing discussions regarding his vaccination status.
As for Thiem, it looked like he would be ready for the Australian Open, but a setback during a recent training camp in Dubai means the former world number three will skip Melbourne Park.
Thiem took to Twitter to inform his fans, writing "After the short holidays, my team and I have assessed all matters and we have decided to make some changes to my initial tournament schedule.
— Dominic Thiem (@ThiemDomi) December 28, 2021
"I will start the season in South America at the Cordoba Open in Argentina at the end of January, and will therefore not play this year at the Australian Open.
"I will miss the Australian fans, but I will be back in 2023. We believe this is the right decision in order to have a good return to competition."
The tournament is set to start on January 17 and run through to January 30.
