WATCH: Dominic Thiem warmly welcomed by French Open crowd with claps and cheers as Austrian begins final run in qualifying before retirement

The crowd at Suzanne Lenglen recently rose in unison to welcome Dominic Thiem on the court at the qualifying rounds at the 2024 French Open. The 30-year-old has already announced that the 2024 season will be his last on the ATP tour.

Thiem was one of the top players in the world between 2017 and 2020, achieving a career-high ranking of World No. 3 in 2020. Thiem was a clay court specialist, winning 10 out of his 17 titles on the red dirt. The Austrian has contested 18 career finals on the clay surface.

However, two of Thiem's greatest triumphs came on the hard courts. Thiem won the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament in 2019 and then captured his only grand slam at the 2020 US Open by defeating Alexander Zverev in the final.

From 2016 to 2020, Thiem had an excellent record at the French Open as he made it to at least the quarter-finals in every one of those years. Out of those, he made it to the finals in successive years in 2018 and 2019, losing to Rafael Nadal on both occasions.

A persistent wrist injury has since led to Thiem deciding to retire at the end of the 2024 season. In his qualifying match against Franco Agamenone, the crowd at the Suzanne Lenglen welcomed him with a thunderous applause.

"Two-time finalist Dominic Thiem enters Court Suzanne-Lenglen to play his last #RolandGarros ever… Starting in the first round of qualifying. Received with a very warm ovation from the crowd," journalist Gaspar Ribeiro Lanca wrote on X along with images from the court.

Thiem beat Agamenone in three sets and is expected to face Otto Virtanen in the next qualifying round.

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"The journey was incredible, all the ups and downs" - Dominic Thiem on his retirement

Dominic Thiem is set to bring the curtains down on a successful career

Dominic Thiem announced his retirement from tennis on May 10 via Instagram. Thiem emphasized the severity of his wrist injury and stated that it was not allowing him to play the way he wanted. He also said retirement was not an impulsive decisio and took plenty of deliberation.

"There are some reasons behind it. Firstly my wrist is not exactly the way it should be and it is not exactly the way how I want it and the second reason is my inner feeling," Thiem said in his retirement video (via atptour.com).

"I was thinking about this decision. I was thinking about this decision for a very long time. I was thinking very carefully about it. I was thinking about the whole journey as a tennis player which was incredible."

Thiem added that he was satisfied with what he achieved on the court.

"I have had success, I have won trophies I never dreamt of. The journey was incredible, all the ups and downs. It was an incredible experience which I was so thankful for and in the end I came to the conclusion that this decision to end my career by the end of the season is the only right one. I am very happy with it and I am super excited for everything that is coming next," he added.

The last time Dominic Thiem made it to a final was in his home tournament at the Austrian Open last year, where he lost to Sebastian Baez.