Dominic Thiem's final French Open dream over with qualifying defeat to Otto Virtanen - 'Great farewell'
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Updated 22/05/2024 at 12:37 GMT
Dominic Thiem now has just two more opportunities in his career to appear at a Grand Slam. The two-time French Open finalist exited this year's tournament in the qualifying stage, losing in straight sets to Otto Virtanen. Thiem will retire at the end of the current campaign due to an ongoing wrist injury. Meanwhile, Virtanen is aiming to appear at a major for the second time in his career.
Emotional moment Thiem loses in final French Open appearance in qualifying
Dominic Thiem has taken his last ever steps on the clay courts of Roland-Garros, falling to Otto Virtnanen 6-2 7-5 in French Open qualifying.
Having missed out on a wild card, something which riled many fans, Thiem packed out the stands at Court Suzanne-Lenglen in southern Paris on Wednesday afternoon, in what was a second qualifying round.
The raucous crowd was left disappointed in the first set, though, as Virtanen blasted into a 4-1 lead. Thiem held serve to pull one back, but a whitewash followed in the next game to extinguish any flickers of hope.
He denied the Finn twice on set point, but it wasn't enough to stop a 6-2 defeat. The next session didn't start much better, falling behind 3-1, but then came the comeback.
The 30-year-old broke before both men alternated holding until reaching five games apiece. Just as Thiem looked to be gaining serious momentum, though, the heavens opened and play was halted by rain.
Once the Parisian skies cleared, Virtanen was in full control and determined to go one better than his appearance at this stage a year ago.
He rapidly took the lead and got himself into a match point situation twice, only for Thiem to bite back. But it was third time lucky as the younger man closed out the straight-sets win.
Thiem said in the emotional aftermath, in which he was given a standing ovation and presented with a commemorative slice of the court: "Thank you everybody who came. It was a great farewell.
"There was great support and atmosphere. There is a special relationship with this tournament, from the second year I played finals in the juniors.
"I built a great relationship with the tournament and fans. I have so many great memories - it's been my best results."
Virtnanen added: "It was the last chance to play at Roland-Garros against him. I would like to see him play more clay-court tennis. Since I was a young kid, I was watching all the matches here."
Thiem recently announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2024 season, with a writst injury being the cause.
Since he first sustained the problem in 2021 - at which point it kept him out for half a year - the Austrian has not made it beyond the second round in any Grand Slam.
Prior to that, Thiem was the man who ended the utter dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, ending a run of 14 successive major victories for the 'big three'. He won the 2020 US Open to do that.
He has twice reached the final of the French Open, and once achieved the same in the Australian Open. He potentially has one last chance for a career-best Wimbledon display, having previously only reached the fourth round.
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