(Reuters) – Former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem fell 7-6(6) 6-2 to Italy’s Luciano Darderi at the Vienna Open on Tuesday in what was the 31-year-old Austrian’s final professional match.
The former world number three looked emotional after his first-round defeat on home soil as he received a standing ovation from the crowd at the Vienna Stadthalle arena.
Thiem has struggled to reproduce the form that carried him to the 2020 Flushing Meadows title and announced he would retire this season after being troubled by a wrist injury in recent years.
Thiem had said this season was his last chance to get back to playing at a level he expected of himself and climb back up the rankings, before announcing his retirement in May.
The Austrian had an impressive career, winning 17 singles titles and reaching back-to-back Roland Garros finals in 2018 and 2019, knocking out Serbian great Novak Djokovic before losing to Rafael Nadal on both occasions.
Thiem also recorded victories over Spaniard Nadal, his biggest coming in the quarter-finals of the 2020 Australian Open where he reached the final before losing to Djokovic.
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City; editing by Clare Fallon)
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