Dominic Thiem was playing a really strong match against Ben Shelton at the 2023 US Open, but he opted to retire after the opening set.
Dominic Thiem won his first Grand Slam match in over 2.5 years in the opening round, but he didn’t do the same thing in the second round. Thiem took on Ben Shelton in a very exciting match between two players who played a good one earlier this year at the ATP 250 event in Estoril.
Thiem played well, pretty much on par with the way he played in the first round. He was up a break at one point but then lost it, giving Shelton the confidence he lacked a bit. The American nearly broke Thiem after that, but neither ultimately managed to, so we ended up in a tiebreak.
It was played better by Shelton, who took it 7-1 in the end. Thiem went to the toilet in between sets and returned grimacing. They played another game, but the Austrian didn’t attempt to return any of the serves, quickly signalling to Shelton that he was about to retire.
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Something strange then happened when the umpire stepped in and stopped the handshake, opting to call for a doctor instead. Thiem obliged despite wanting to retire, but it was a short discussion with the doctors where he explained that he was feeling terrible.
He admitted to the doctors that he threw up before the match and almost threw up again in the bathroom, now explaining that he can’t compete. After that, he finally retired and was allowed to. It was very unfortunate for Thiem, but he did play a really strong set.
It didn’t look like he struggled that much, but he might have hidden it really well. Shelton advances to the next round and could go deep with the way the draw is shaping up for him. He’s a natural fit on these courts.
