"Classic example of spinning the truth" - Tennis fans left fuming after Dominic Thiem was misquoted regarding Roger Federer's GOAT status

Tennis fans didn't take kindly to Dominic Thiem being misquoted regarding his comments on Roger Federer.

In a recent interview, Thiem paid a tribute to Federer and spoke about the enormous influence he has had on tennis. While talking about whether Federer could be considered the GOAT in terms of the impact he has had on the sport, Thiem said every tennis player and fan should be grateful to the Swiss maestro for all he has done for the sport.

"No matter how much the others win, Rafa, Novak or someone in the future, Roger will always be the one who influenced tennis the most," he said.

"I think he influenced every sport, because of his character, his special aura. I think he took tennis to another level and everyone benefited from that. We all have to be very grateful to him," he added.

While Dominic Thiem did say that the Grand Slam count would eventually settle the GOAT debate, he did not phrase it as a snub to Federer at all.

However, a social media post removed the context of his words and made it look like he was ruling the 20-time Grand Slam champion out of the GOAT debate.

"Dominic Thiem rules Roger Federer OUT of the GOAT debate," a tweet read.

Tennis fans did not take kindly to Dominic Thiem's words being twisted for a negative narrative. They took to social media to share their displeasure at how his comments on Federer were misrepresented by the media.

One fan said that it was a classic example of misquoting someone and inferring meaning where there wasn't any.

"Thiem never mentioned Federer, but @eurosport twists or infers meaning. Glad sports journalism keeps raising the bar of accurate reporting," a fan expressed.

Another fan called out how the tweet left out all the praise Thiem had heaped on Federer.

"Aren’t you leaving out a lot? He also said some amazing things about Roger," another tweet read.

Here are a few more fan reactions:

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Dominic Thiem loses to Borna Cocric, ends Austria's 2023 Davis Cup challenge

Dominic Thiem pictured at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Borna Coric defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6(3), 6-2 in an hour and 45 minutes in the Davis Cup Qualifiers to oust Austria from the tournament.

Thiem was utterly disappointed with the straight-sets loss and stated that the idea of having let his team down was very upsetting.

“It’s a huge disappointment,” admitted Thiem. “Obviously my match today, but also the fact that I couldn’t help to give my team, my country a point. We lost 1-3, I lost two points out of that, so it’s not a good weekend for me, so the disappointment is big right now.”

Despite his victory, Coric was very complimentary when speaking about Thiem and said that he was sure of the Austrian making his return to the ATP top 10.