Dominic Thiem Suffers Worst Dip While Roger Federer Improves His Position in Latest ATP Rankings

ATP released its new rankings today, 21st January. The Top 10 rankings didn’t see any change. However, there were quite a few changes in other rankings. A number of notable players swapped positions in the ATP rankings, either heading up or going down. 

Even though there were a number of shifts that took place in the newly released rankings, two shifts took the most light this time. It was of the Swiss maestro Roger Federer, and the Austrian sensation Dominic Thiem.

The movers in the rankings

Roger Federer has been out of the tour citing his knee surgery after his quarter-final loss to Hubert Hurkacz at the 2021 Wimbledon. Being out of the tour for the last 8 months, Federer slipped to 30th rank, his worst ranking since January 2001. 

However, in the new rankings released, the former World No.1 has moved a spot ahead, getting on the 29th Spot. After his quarter-final loss in ATP 250 Delray Beach, Grigor Dimitrov, rankings experienced a decline from 26th to 33rd.

Another big shift that has taken place in the rankings is that of Dominic Thiem. The Austrian has been out of the tour following a wrist injury since June 2021. He suffered the injury during his second-round match against Adrian Mannarino at the ATP 250 Mallorca Open. 

Being out of the tour for the last 8 months, the former World No. 3 has slipped down further 12 ranks, taking the 52nd spot in the new rankings. It is his worst rank since 2015. 

The comeback of Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem

Till January, Roger Federer stood shoulder to shoulder with arch-rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the race of Most Grand Slam titles. However, seeing Spaniard Rafael Nadal going ahead and winning his 21st Grand Slam, the Swiss is now even more motivated to make a comeback soon.

Seeing Nadal’s Australian Open win, Federer gave light on his recovery post-surgery saying, “Until now I wasn’t really allowed to run yet and do the heavy workload with jumps and stop-and-gos so I hope that that’s all going to start hopefully in a couple of weeks and then we’ll see how the body will react to that.”

Giving a hint of his potential return, the former world No.1 said, “So I think this question is better answered maybe by April / May but for now of course the drive is there, I’m really motivated to do my work when I’m allowed to do.”

On the other hand, Dominic Thiem was expected to make a comeback in last year mid-December at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. However, Thiem pulled out of the Abu Dhabi event, followed by a withdrawal from the ATP Cup and the Australian Open. 

He was then expected to make a comeback in February. However, while training in Santiago, the Austrian faced another minor injury, delaying his comeback further. He updated the media about his injury saying, “Training was going well in Vienna and I am so happy that I’ve made a full recovery regarding my wrist. Unfortunately, I have suffered this minor setback in Santiago, which has forced me to temporarily stop training.”

He is now expected to return to the court at the ATP Indian Wells.