Thiem won’t defend US Open title due to wrist

NEW YORK — Defending champion Dominic Thiem has pulled out of the US Open tennis tournament, saying Wednesday he will miss the rest of the year because of a right wrist injury.

Thiem was hurt in June while playing in the Mallorca Open and said the pain returned last week after he hit a ball during training. Doctors recommended he wear a wrist splint for six weeks before resuming training.

The No. 6-ranked Thiem made the announcement in a social media post, and a statement from his management company described the injury as a detachment of the posterior sheath of the ulnar side of the right wrist.

“It has been a tough decision to make but I know this is what I have to do,” the 27-year-old from Austria wrote on Twitter. “I have a long career ahead of me and it’s important not to take risks and rush back — which I hope you understand.”

pic.twitter.com/B4zdNL8NBm

— Dominic Thiem (@ThiemDomi) August 18, 2021

Thiem won his first major title last year at Flushing Meadows, beating Alexander Zverev by becoming the first player to come from two sets down in the US Open final since Pancho Gonzales in 1949.

But after the two-time French Open finalist was stunned by Pablo Andujar in the first round in Paris this year, he played only one more match. Thiem was leading Adrian Mannarino in the first set of his opening match at Mallorca when he had to stop playing.

Thiem joins five-time US Open champion Roger Federer and 2016 winner Stan Wawrinka among players who will miss the year’s final Grand Slam tournament because of injury.

This will be the second year in a row and seventh time in the Open era that the defending men’s champion won’t play the US Open. Rafael Nadal did not play in 2020 amid concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.

The US Open begins Aug. 30.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.