He did return to action in March, but struggled for form and fell out of the world’s top 300. However, he showed signs of promise as the season wore on, winning 22 of his last 33 matches and making the final four at ATP events in Gstaad, Gijon and Antwerp.
It meant he rose back to 102 in the world, and narrowly missed out on qualifying automatically for the first Grand Slam of 2023. But now he’s learnt that he, Christopher Eubanks, and Luca Van Assche will play at Albert Park after all, having been handed wildcards into the men’s draw, according to ausopen.com.
And it’s an event that the 29-year-old has pedigree in, having taken eventual winner Novak Djokovic to five sets in the final in 2020. It meant a third Slam final defeat for Thiem, but the pain was eased later that year when he won his first major title at the US Open.
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