Melbourne (Australia), Dec. 30 (AP): Former U.S. Open champion Dominic Thiem has been given a main-draw wild card to the Australian Open beginning Jan. 16 after his successful return from a right wrist injury.
Tournament officials said Friday that Thiem, an Australian Open finalist in 2020, received a wild-card entry along with Americans Taylor Townsend and Christopher Eubanks and French players Diane Parry and Luca Van Assche.
Thiem has played strongly in his return to the tour after the wrist injury sustained during the 2021 grass-court season sidelined him for nine months.
In the second half of 2022, the Austrian player rose from outside the top 350 to world No. 102. He won 22 of his last 33 matches — including semifinals at ATP events in Gstaad, Gijon and Antwerp — but he still narrowly missed directly qualifying for the Australian Open main draw.
Thiem has a career win-loss record of 19-8 at Melbourne Park, reaching the second week in 2017, 2018 and 2021 in addition to his runner-up finish to Novak Djokovic in five sets in 2020.
Eight months later he beat Alexander Zverev in five sets in the U.S. Open final, his first Grand Slam singles title.