Dominic Thiem is all set to call it a day at the end of the 2024 tennis season and he got the opportunity to play in front of a warm New York City crowd on Monday. Although he lost to American youngster Ben Shelton in the first round in straight sets, Thiem received a lot of positive farewell messages from the community on social media, which included players like Nick Kyrgios and Denis Shapovalov.
Thiem’s post-match interview was put up by the US Open on social media. Several replies came to the video, with two of the early ones belonging to Kyrgios and Shapovalov respectively.
Calling Thiem a champion, Kyrgios mentioned how it was an honor for him to have commentated on his last major match.
Amazing career. Was a pleasure to call your last grand slam match. Champion https://t.co/hMbBA7c9wr
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) August 26, 2024
Shapovalov also mentioned how it was a ‘pleasure’ to play against Thiem and called him the ‘nicest’ guy on the tour.
Tennis will miss you @domithiem, was always a pleasure to share the court with you. Always one of the nicest and purest players on tour. https://t.co/nGmWSMFwJb
— Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) August 26, 2024
Thiem was visibly emotional in his post-match interview as he bid adieu to his sport at the platform where he had won his first and only Grand Slam title four years ago.
After 10 years of playing at the US Open, it was quite difficult for the Austrian to accept that he would never return to the same court again as a title contender. His speech made the spectators shed some tears too, who waved him goodbye by honoring him with a standing ovation.
“In that weird 2020, in strange and different circumstances. I had this success unfortunately without any of you [the fans] here. It was an amazing moment but on the other hand a bit sad, so I am super happy I got the chance to play my last US Open match on this court,” said Thiem in his post-match interview while recalling his US Open victory during the pandemic year.
Not a dry eye in the house
Our 2020 champion Dominic Thiem bids an emotional farewell to the US Open. pic.twitter.com/Ru7AKwpYL1
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 26, 2024
However, Shapovalov and Kyrgios coming together to share identical opinions over the same discourse isn’t happening for the first time. Earlier, the two had shared their opinions over the doping controversy of the current men’s singles World No.1 Jannik Sinner.
Both of them had called out the way Sinner’s case was handled. They had raised doubts over why neither any information about him testing positive was revealed nor he was handed any suspension. In fact, he was declared innocent.
While Shapovalov had termed it ‘different treatment for different players’, Kyrgios had demanded that the Italian should have been suspended like other players who met a similar fate in tests. So Shapovalov and Kyrgios could be a new bromance which is upcoming in the sport and the US Open 2024 could go a long way in determining whether that would happen or not.
