Dominic Thiem won’t defend U.S. Open title due to wrist injury

Defending US Open champions Dominic Thiem will not defend his title this summer in Queens after announcing he will miss the remainder of the 2021 season due to a wrist injury.

The World No. 6 from Austria initially suffered the injury in June at the Mallorca Open, which forced him to miss another Grand Slam in Wimbledon earlier this summer.

“I’m really disappointed not to be able to defend the title in New York but I haven’t recovered from the wrist injury I suffered back in June at the Mallorca Open,” Thiem wrote in his announcement on Twitter. “The past six weeks, I’ve been following the medical advice, wearing the wrist splint, doing exercise to stay in shape… but then last week I hit a ball during training and started to feel some pain again.

“After some tests, they [doctors] said my wrist needs more time, so we’ve all agreed on being conservative and to give my wrist some time to recover… It has been a tough decision but I know this is what I have to do.”

This is the second time in as many years that the winner of the US Open will not be able to defend his title. Last year, Rafael Nadal did not participate in the hardcourt major because of COVID-19 concerns.

Thiem is also the second major men’s tennis star to withdraw from the tournament in the last week. On Sunday, 20-time major winner and World No. 9 Roger Federer announced that he would not play in the US Open due to a lingering knee injury that requires a third surgery.

The procedure will keep the 40-year-old out “many months.”