"That's just terrible" - Serena Williams' ex-hitting partner slams French Open for not awarding wildcard to Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem was not given a wildcard for the French Open. This gained the ire of tennis coach and former hitting partner to Serena Williams, Sascha Bajin, who slammed the tournament's organizers.

Thiem, who recently announced that he would be retiring from tennis after the 2024 season, was not present on the list of singles wildcards released for the clay-court Major.

This means that he will have to play the qualifiers in order to compete in the main draw. The Austrian reached two finals in Paris in 2018 and 2019.

Sascha Bajin, who notably coached Naomi Osaka to her first two Grand Slam wins and was the WTA Coach of the Year for 2018, was far from pleased with Thiem not being awarded a wildcard for the French Open and criticized the tournament organizers. The German called the decision "terrible" and "a joke".

"French open not giving Thiem a 2 time finalist a WC in his final year is a joke. Sorry @rolandgarros but that’s just terrible and who ever came up with that decision needs to be ….. (you guys fill the blank)," Bajin wrote on X.

Dominic Thiem has won just one main-draw match so far in 2024, which was at the Estoril Open. He last competed in the Madrid Open qualifiers, where he beat Felipe Alves before losing to Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Dominic Thiem has won 28 out of 38 matches at the French Open

Dominic Thiem at the BMW Open in Munich

Dominic Thiem has played 38 main-draw matches so far at the French Open, winning 28. He has won more matches at the Paris Major than at any other Grand Slam.

The Austrian's first appearance at the French Open came in 2014 when he reached the second round before being beaten 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 by eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

His first Grand Slam semifinal came at the French Open in the 2016 edition, when he beat Inigo Cervantes, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Alexander Zverev and Marcel Granollers before losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Thiem later beat the Serb in the quarterfinals of the following year's edition.

The former World No. 3 reached back-to-back finals at Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019, losing to Rafael Nadal both times. He reached the quarterfinals of the Paris Major in 2020 before suffering first-round eliminations in the next three editions.

Dominic Thiem competed at the 2023 French Open where he lost 3-6, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4, 2-6 to Pedro Cachin after putting up a tough fight.