Dominic Thiem announces tennis return just weeks after playing final r | Tennis | Sport

Less than six weeks after he ended his career on some soil, Dominic Thiem will be returning to the match court.

The former world No. 3 retired at last month’s Vienna Open, losing his final match to Luciano Darderi.

But he has already signed up for a new tournament, the Open de Caen, and will be back in action in December.

Thiem retired at the age of 31 after spending years battling a wrist injury and failing to rediscover his best form. Back in May, the Austrian announced his plans to end his career and confirmed the Vienna Open would be his last tournament.

He suffered a 7-6(6) 6-2 defeat in the first round and immediately entered retirement, quite literally hanging up his racket during his farewell ceremony. But the former US Open champion has now announced his return to the court.

Thiem has joined the line-up for the Open de Caen, a four-day exhibition tournament in Normandy.

“Hello everybody. Keep the date for my first participation, the Open de Caen, from 8th to 11th December,” the 17-time title winner announced in a video.

“I’ll be there for my first match on Monday the 9th. See you there.”

Thiem is set to face Richard Gasquet in the quarter-final. The winner of that match will take on world No. 14 Ugo Humbert in the semi-final the following day with the championship match being played on Wednesday.

If the Austrian reaches the final, he could face Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who has a bye directly into the semi-final in the other half of the draw.

Alexandre Muller, Jules Marie – who documents his tennis career on YouTube – and Adrien Gobart also make up the men’s draw.

There’s a smaller women’s event in Caen, with Elise Mertens, Dayana Yastremska, Alice Robbe and Audrey Albie battling for the trophy.

The tournament will mark Thiem’s first appearance on a tennis court since his final match in Vienna last month. But the 31-year-old has still been keeping busy.

He founded Ecoballers FC – a sustainable non-league football club – with his brother Moritz. They compete in the 4th Division South league of the Leisure Football Association in Austria.

Before the winter break, they thrashed Hertha Vienna 24-0 to go top of the league, with Thiem scoring a hattrick. But he will have to get used to playing tennis again if he wants to bag another victory in Caen.