Dominic Thiem, the world No. 3 male tennis player, reportedly said he plans to play in the Olympics in 2021 now that a tournament in his home nation of Austria will no longer overlap with the Tokyo Games.
Thiem, who skipped the Rio Olympics in order to play a lower-level ATP event in Mexico (which he then missed due to injury), was prepared to pass on the Tokyo Games in 2020, too.
The Austrian Open in Kitzbuehel, also a lower-level event, would have coincided with the Olympics this past summer. But, in next year’s schedule, the Austrian Open is the week before the Tokyo Games.
“I got lucky,” Thiem, who won the U.S. Open in September, said Friday before the ATP Finals begin in London, according to multiple reports. “I changed my mind [on the Olympics] ... It would be a dream to participate in the Olympics.”
Thiem, 27, reportedly cited “the emotions” shown by Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro at the Rio Olympics, where Murray prevailed in the final to repeat as singles gold medalist.
It’s a change in stance from 2015, when Thiem reportedly said that he did not give much thought to the Olympics and associated it more with swimming and track and field.
Thiem was the highest-ranked male singles player to skip the Rio Olympics for reasons other than injury.
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