Dominic Thiem is a professional footballer now. The former US Open champion and ex-world No. 3 has officially registered with Badener AC, an eighth-division Austrian club, with his transfer confirmed by the Austrian Football Association on July 15.
This isn't a charity kickabout or a one-off celebrity appearance. Thiem has signed as a competitive player and will have to earn his spot, just like everyone else in the squad. Manager Sergej Petrovic made that clear immediately.
"We've heard that he's a good player. He has a friend at the club, and I hope he'll play very well here. Everyone has to fight for a spot in the starting eleven," Petrovic said.
Not exactly a footballing novice
There's actually a foundation here. Thiem previously made 10 appearances and scored once for his hometown amateur club, SC Lichtenwörth. He's also spoken about football with genuine feeling for years — not the polished PR kind of feeling, but the watching-every-Chelsea-match kind.
"Football is my passion. I watch as many matches as possible in the European top leagues, I hardly miss a Chelsea match," he said back in 2018.
His move to Badener AC came through a friend already at the club. A personal connection, a long-held passion, and the physical window finally open after tennis chewed him up and spat him out.
What tennis took, football might give back
Thiem's tennis career ended after the Vienna Open in 2024 — two years after he returned from a wrist injury that effectively broke his game. He never fully found his level again. Seventeen ATP titles, a 2020 US Open, four Grand Slam finals, and a career that ended too soon.
At 32, he's not chasing a professional football career in any realistic sense. Eighth division is amateur football in Austria — local clubs, part-time players, pitches a long way from the Bernabeu. But he'll line up, compete for minutes, and actually play. After years of watching his body dictate the terms, that probably means something.
"Everyone has to fight for a spot in the starting eleven." In Thiem's case, that's exactly the point.
