VIENNA: World No. 12 Dominic Thiem is set to return at the 2022 Australian Open, the Austrian announced on Tuesday.
The former World No. 3 has been recovering from a right wrist injury that he sustained at the Mallorca Championships in June. Thiem revealed last month that he would not require surgery on his wrist, which prevented him from defending his US Open title in September, with his recovery stepping up in recent weeks.
"I am 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," Thiem wrote on Twitter.
"I'll be returning to competition in December and will be playing the MWTC 2021 in Abu Dhabi - with the objective to return to the tour for the 2022 Australian Open," the 28-year-old announced.
"Needless to say that the vaccine is needed to play both events (Abu Dhabi and Australian Open), and in my case, I have already been vaccinated," he added.