Vaccinated Thiem to return in Abu Dhabi next month

The
2020
US
Open
champion
has
been
out
of
action
since
suffering
a
wrist
injury
at
the
Mallorca
Championships
in
June.

Thiem
on
Tuesday
revealed
he
has
made
good
progress
with
his
recovery
and
will
play
in
the
World
Tennis
Championship,
an
exhibition
event
that
will
be
staged
from
December
16-18.

The
28-year-old
had
stated
he
wanted
to
wait
for
a
Novavax
jab,
but
was
urged
by
Austrian
minister
for
Social
Affairs,
Health,
Care
and
Consumer
Protection
Wolfgang
Muckstein
to
take
an
alternative
vaccine
as
his
preferred
choice
would
not
be
available
until
next
year.

Thiem
says
he
has
now
been
vaccinated
and
is
relishing
getting
back
on
court
as
he
eyes
a
grand
slam
return
in
Melbourne
in
January.

pic.twitter.com/lAmRL905p5

—
Dominic
Thiem
(@ThiemDomi)

November
2,
2021

“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,”
Thiem
tweeted
on
Tuesday.

“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.
My
team
and
I
strongly
believe
that
I’ll
be
ready
to
make
my
comeback
later
this
year.

“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.

“Needless
to
say
that
the
vaccine
is
needed
to
play
both
events,
and
in
my
case
I
have
already
been
vaccinated.
I
saw
recently
some
news
about
this
and
I
had
to
make
it
very
clear
that
I
would
get
vaccinated.
Hopefully
the
next
time
things
won’t
be
taken
this
far
[sic]
as
I
saw
last
week…”

Rafael
Nadal
is
also
set
to
return
from
injury
in
Abu
Dhabi.