Austria’s chances of winning a medal in tennis at next year’s Olympic Games has been dealt a huge blow after Dominic Thiem confirmed that he will not be participating in the event.
Thiem, who is the only player from his country to have a top 100 ranking in singles, has instead signed a deal to play at the Kitzbuhel Open over the next two years. In 2020 the ATP 250 event will take place during the same time as the Olympics, which the 25-year old is yet to participate in. The 2020 games will be hosted in Japan with the tennis tournament taking place on the hard court’s at the Ariake Tennis Park.
“Tokyo is a beautiful city, but I would rather spend a full week in Kitzbuhel. That decision was not particularly difficult,” Thiem said during a press conference on Monday.
Despite opting to skip the event once again, Thiem has indicated that he hopes to feature in the 2024 edition of the Games when they will be hosted in Paris, France. In that edition the tournament will be held at Roland Garros, where the Austrian reached his maiden grand slam final in 2018.
“Of course, it’s a bit of a glimpse into the future, because the Olympic Games are in Paris in 2024. I’ll play them in any case.” He said.
Thiem’s decision to miss Tokyo comes as no surprise. He once said that the Olympics Games was ‘swimming and athletics.’ Stating that his ultimate dream as a player is Wimbledon. Nevertheless, many of the top players have played in the Olympics before. Including Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer. Murray is the only player in history to win two consecutive gold medals in singles competition.
“For me, the Olympics is athletics, swimming – for me as a tennis player it’s a dream to be here in Wimbledon, to play well there. Of course it would be nice to be at the Olympics once, but I do not dream of it every day.” Thiem said in 2015.
Next year’s Olympic Games will get underway on July 24th. More than 11,000 athletes are expected to take part in 339 events across 33 different sports. The tennis competitions will take place during the first week of the games.
