Dominic Thiem: My wrist is doing great, I'm vaccinated and Australian Open is my goal

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2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem has revealed that his wrist has healed significantly and he is confident he will be ready for the start of the 2022 season. Thiem, a former world No. 3, suffered a season-ending wrist injury at the Mallorca Open in June.

A month ago, the tests Thiem underwent showed there was no need for a wrist surgery. Now, Thiem has shared another positive update. "I'm very happy to announce that my recovery is going well. The MRI I did today showed that my wrist injury has improved significantly.

A couple of weeks ago I started playing with soft balls and was able to switch to normal tennis balls during yesterday's practice session. My team and I strongly believe that I'll be ready to make my comeback to competition later this year," Thiem said in a statement posted on his Twitter account.

A vaccinated Thiem to play Abu Dhabi, Australian Open

Thiem is planning to make his return at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi exhibition is set to run through December 16-18. "I'll be returning to competition in December and will be playing wht MWTC 2021 in Abu Dhabi -- with the objective ro return to the Tour for the 2022 Australian Open.

Needles to say that the vaccine is needed to play both events, and in my case I have already been vaccinated. I saw recently some news about this and I had made it very clear that I would get vaccinated. Hopefully the next time things won't be taken this far as I saw last week," Thiem said.

"Last but not least, I would like to thank all of my fans who have been incredibly supportive these last couple of months and I cannot wait to play my first competiitve match in a little over a month."