Former world No. 3 Dominic Thiem has withdrawn from the Monte Carlo Masters.
Thiem, now ranked at No. 50 in the world, won’t be making his seventh Monte Carlo appearance this year.
Monte Carlo update:
OUT: Thiem
IN: Musetti
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Thiem, a two-time French Open runner-up, surprisingly hasn’t had that much success in Monte Carlo throughout his career.
Thiem’s best Monte Carlo result came in 2018, when he made the quarterfinal before losing to Rafala Nadal.
Thiem was expected to play in Monte Carlo next week but a positive COVID-19 test ruined his plan.
On Thursday, Thiem announced he was finally COVID-19 negative but being in isolation for a week left him without a chance to prepare well for Monte Carlo.
Thiem: I’m finally negative
“Hey guys! I hope you’re all well! A short update: I am finally negative and I feel much better,” Thiem announced on Twitter. “Thank you for all your messages! I really appreciate it! “I’m going to have a medical check-up, so I can get back on track! I wish you all a nice Thursday!”
Last week, Thiem made his long-awaited comeback to tennis.
In his first match back, Thiem suffered a 6-3 6-4 loss to Pedro Cachin.
“There are still a lot of things missing. If I had to pick out a few things, it would be all these automatisms, Hitting, moving on the court, not thinking after a good shot that the opponent can’t play it back because they’re all really good players. Playing 10 to 15 good shots in a row. That’s all still missing. Of course, the forehand also, it’s not yet where it was before, because that’s where most of my training practice is missing. I’ve hardly played the forehand for about eight months. It doesn’t do enough damage yet, like it did before the injury. But that’s a lack of training and it will definitely come back,” Thiem told ORF Sport.