When I was getting into tennis, I spent a lot of time searching YouTube for players with one-handed backhands. One of the matches I found, and kept rewatching, was Dominic Thiem against Rafael Nadal in Rome in 2017.

So Thiem felt like the right player to start a new series with. “Where are they now?” checks in on one-handers who have left the tour, to see what they’re up to and how they seem.

Rome, May 2017

That spring, Nadal was close to unbeatable on clay. He arrived in Rome on a 17-match winning streak on the surface, and he had already beaten Thiem twice in finals in the previous few weeks: 6-4, 6-1 in Barcelona and 7-6, 6-4 in Madrid.

Five days after the Madrid final, Thiem beat him 6-4, 6-3 in the Rome quarter-finals. It was Nadal’s first loss on clay that year, against a 23-year-old, at a tournament Nadal had already won seven times.

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Brilliant Dominic Thiem shots in win vs Rafa Nadal | Rome 2017 Quarter-Finals · Tennis TV

Nadal’s forehand into a one-hander’s backhand is the pattern that has beaten a generation of players on clay. Keep an eye on what Thiem does every time Nadal goes there.

The backhand

Thiem’s one-hander never looked classical. People still argue about how to describe it. The swing was compact for how hard he hit the ball, and he drove through it rather than brushing up the back. It was a direct shot, built to take time away from the other player.

On clay he could stand a long way back and swing freely, which suited a shot with that much commitment in it. Off a high ball, the one that gives most one-handers trouble, he could still flatten it out down the line.

The peak

Everything came together at the 2020 US Open. In the final against Alexander Zverev, Thiem lost the first two sets and was down 5-3 in the fifth. He won 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6). It was the first US Open final decided by a fifth-set tie-break, and his first Grand Slam title after three lost finals.

By then he had reached a career-high ranking of No. 3. He was 27.

The wrist

In June 2021, at the Mallorca Championships, Thiem was leading Adrian Mannarino 5-2 in the first set when he hurt his right wrist hitting a forehand. He withdrew from Wimbledon, then from the US Open as defending champion, and missed the rest of the season.

He came back in 2022 and spent the next two years trying to get the wrist, and his game, back to where they had been. It never quite happened. In 2024 he announced it would be his last season, and on 22 October he played his final match at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, losing 7-6(6), 6-2 to Luciano Darderi in front of a home crowd. He was 31.

He didn’t really get to pick the moment. A wrist that never fully recovered made the decision for him.

Where he is now

The academy. In July 2025, the tennis academy in Oberpullendorf, Burgenland, was renamed the Thiem Academy Burgenland. His father, Wolfgang, runs it as sporting director. Dominic told ORF he’s there as a mentor rather than a classic coach, and as a hitting partner for the most talented of the academy’s 25 or so young players. “I just see myself more in the bigger picture,” he said (translated from German).

Thiem Energy. In 2024 he and his brother Moritz, who is also his manager, founded Thiem Energy in Mattersburg. It started as an energy community, where members share renewable power generated in Austria, and has since added a second community for businesses and a tariff that covers what members can’t get from the community. “The community idea is really the heart of Thiem Energy,” he told elektro.at in July (translated from German).

ATP Fantasy. When the ATP launched its official fantasy game this year, it named Thiem its Official Fantasy Coach. He’s been posting his picks through the season, which runs from Monte-Carlo to the Paris Masters.

Football. He played for his home club, Lichtenwörth, in a Lower Austrian amateur league, scoring once in ten games last season. This summer he moved to Badener AC in the 2. Klasse Triestingtal.

How he seems

In an October interview with SPORTaktiv, two years after his last match, Thiem said he had been pleasantly surprised by how quickly he got used to everyday life. What he misses are the emotions before big matches. “Success is defined much more broadly for me today,” he said, and he described following the academy’s juniors very closely (all translated from German).

He sounds like someone who has made his peace with the way it ended. The detail I like most is the football. Badener AC’s section head, Sergej Petrovic, made it clear the US Open champion would get no special treatment: everyone there has to fight for a starting place.

Next time you’re on court, ask your hitting partner for ten minutes of high, heavy balls to your backhand, and try to drive through them the way Thiem did.

Where this comes from