Dominic Thiem makes brutally honest admission about French Open wildcard snub
Dominic Thiem has claimed he “kind of didn’t deserve” to receive a wildcard for the 2024 French Open despite the heavy criticism of the decision.
The former US Open champion assessed that he had “enough tournaments and enough time” to be ranked high enough to enter the Roland Garros main draw directly.
Thiem was one of a handful of high-profile players who was not awarded a French Open wildcard, with women’s Grand Slam champions Simona Halep, Caroline Wozniacki and Emma Raducanu also overlooked.
However, The French Tennis Federation’s choice not to guarantee Thiem a spot in the main draw has sparked the strongest backlash among fans and analysts.
There is a case that the 2020 US Open champion and former world No 3, who is a two-time Roland Garros runner-up, would fully deserve a wildcard at the tournament in any season.
The fact, though, that Thiem announced earlier this month he would be retiring later this year only strengthens the argument given this will be his final French Open appearance.
Despite this, the Austrian, who is currently ranked 131st in the world, has accepted the challenge of playing the French Open qualifying event.
Thiem defeated Franco Agamenone 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the first qualifying round in front of a packed Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Monday. He needs to win two more matches to reach the main draw and will next face Otto Virtanen in the second round.
Q1 | Dominic Thiem gets through to Qualifying Round 2 #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/pFYu5xuug6
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 20, 2024
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Following his win over Agamenone, Thiem refused to complain about not receiving a wildcard as he addressed what many feel was an unfair decision.
“Honestly I had a long time to be in a good ranking,” Thiem said. “I had enough tournaments and enough time to climb up the ranking and I didn’t do it, so I kind of didn’t deserve it and that’s fine. I had 10 main draw appearances in the last years so that’s more than enough.”
The 17-time ATP titlist also expressed his appreciation for the number of fans that attended the qualifying match and admitted he was surprised.
“I was really positively surprised when I went out to the stadium,” the 30-year-old added. “It was packed. It was a packed Suzanne-Lenglen which was really enjoyable and really nice, so a big thank you from my side to all the fans who came out.
“French people and people from Paris, they love their Roland Garros, they love this tournament. And you could see today that the whole site is full, that the big stadium is full, which is pretty unique in qualies.”
Amelie Mauresmo, the French Open tournament director, explained that prioritising wildcards for French players was the reason Thiem was overlooked.
“We made the choice of the French,” Mauresmo told Eurosport. “Historically, for the Roland Garros tournament, this has very often been the case.
“There have been a few exceptions, but overall, we made the choice of French men and women, of youth too. So there you have it, for Dominic’s case, obviously, when we ask the question, obviously it’s very complicated to tell him: ‘No, you will play in qualifications.'”
Thiem has endured a difficult period since a brilliant 2020 season and admitted to struggling with motivation early in 2021 following his maiden Grand Slam triumph the previous year.
The 30-year-old has not been the same player since suffering a right wrist injury in June 2021 that has still not fully healed.
Read More: Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem delivers ‘very sad but very beautiful message’
