"Krone" was on site

Star turn at Dominic Thiem’s last serve

Over and out: Dominic Thiem's glorious career came to an end on Tuesday with his defeat to Italian Luciano Darderi in the first round of the Erste Bank Open.(Bild: APA/dpa/Lukas Barth)

What a career! Dominic Thiem from Lower Austria served for the last time as a professional tennis player on Tuesday. The "Krone" was also there and spoke to (sports) stars about the exceptional talent.

Dominic Thiem's impressive tennis career has come to an end. The 31-year-old from Lower Austria reviewed his match against Italian Luciano Darderi (6:7(6), 2:6) and joked about one rally: "That's when I knew it was time to stop."

Incredible evening for the star
At the press conference, Thiem summed up his farewell match in front of 9600 frenzied spectators as an "incredible evening". "A huge thank you to the fans and the people who supported me. That was so important!" But what happens now?

Not only athletes paid tribute to the Lower Austrian athlete at his last tournament. The local magician duo Thommy Ten and Amelié von Tass were also present at the Wiener Stadthalle. The "Krone" also asked them for their magical word donations, as did probably the most famous tennis player of all time: Boris Becker.

"This question does not arise for me"
At the press conference after the match, Thiem was of course asked the question on the tip of many fans' tongues. Does the 31-year-old rule out swinging a tennis racket again in a few years? "Yes, definitely. The most important factor in this is that, objectively speaking, I'm already a long way away from the top of the world and my own performance potential. It would be completely different if I stopped when I was in the top ten. I'm so far away from the level where it would pay off for me personally," said Thiem.