"Shameless", "Should've shown that with a main-draw wildcard" - Fans criticize French Open for showing Dominic Thiem "love" after qualifying exit

Dominic Thiem bid the French Open adieu after losing to Otto Virtanen 6-2, 7-5 in a qualifier at the 2024 edition. He was honored by the tournament in a ceremony after the match, but this irked fans who felt that the two-time finalist should have received a main-draw wildcard in the first place.

Thiem has struggled with form and injuries in recent years and announced earlier this year that he will retire at the end of the 2024 season. He was not given a main draw wildcard for this year's French Open, but did push to enter the main draw through the qualifiers. He made a comeback against Franco Agamenone to win his first match, but could not get past Virtanen.

The two-time finalist was honored by the French Open with a special trophy plaque for his achievements in the tournament over the years.

Fans on X criticized the French Open for the same, with one of the fans calling the tournament shameless for honoring Dominic Thiem even though they didn't give him a wild card.

"You guys are shameless with this post," the fan wrote.

Another fan also opined that the Paris Major could have shown this love to Thiem by giving him a main-draw wildcard.

"Should have shown that love with a main draw wildcard… Thank you Thiem for some incredible Roland-Garros memories #RolandGarros," the fan tweeted.

Here are some other reactions from fans.

"Love him so much you couldn't give him a WC for a proper goodbye?," asked a fan.

"'Paris loves you but no Wild Card You SUCK'," said a fan.

"Could have just given him a Wild Card then," another user tweeted.

Some fans also took this chance to express their love for Dominic Thiem.

"It's going in the header pic idc, it's a trophy, it counts," a fan said.

"Thank you for honouring him. Domi was nicknamed 'Prince of Clay' for a reason, he's been special here in Paris. It is a brief moment to be nostalgic, but life goes on. His story goes on. Just not as a player anymore." a fan tweeted.

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"I kind of didn't deserve it and that's fine" - Dominic Thiem on not receiving a main-draw wildcard for the French Open

Dominic Thiem

After his first-round win in the qualifiers, Dominic Thiem opened up on how he felt about not receiving a main-draw wildcard. Thiem admitted that he had enough time to improve his rankings but wasn't able to and didn't feel like he deserved a wildcard.

He further said that he was blessed to have had 10 main-draw appearances at Roland Garros.

“Honestly I had a long time to be in a good ranking. I had enough tournaments and enough time to climb up the ranking and I didn’t do it, so I kind of didn’t deserve it and that’s fine. I had 10 main draw appearances in the last years so that’s more than enough,” said Thiem after his first-round qualifying match (via Gaspar Lanca on X).

Ranked 131st in the world, Dominic Thiem will shift his focus towards the grass season.