“The Story With Dominic Thiem Hurts a Lot” – Ex-Coach Gunter Bresnik on The Split

Three-time Grand Slam finalist Dominic Thiem concluded his 17-year-old thriving partnership with his Gunter Bresnik last year. Bresnik has trained him since Thiem was three-year-old. Also, since 1997, Thiem’s father, Wolfgang, started working as a coach at Bresnik’s academy in Vienna, Austria.

Last year, Thiem began traveling for the clay-season without his coach Bresnik, and Nicolas Massu was certainly in charge of his tennis. Soon after, it was confirmed that they are parted ways.

Recently, Bresnik spoke to Austria’s largest newspaper Kronen-Zeitung and reflected upon their past relationship and how painful it was to end the coaching league with the Austrian ace.

“It is clear that the story with Dominic hurts a lot. It was almost a life’s work for me. Also very difficult for me to lose Wolfgang (Dominic’s father). He was not just a great coach for me, but a long-time friend. If I had the opportunity to train with a player like Dominic, I would always take it. Not using a training partner like Thiem would be absurd,” he said.

“These are stories that do not improve the relationship. Of course, such a story was not intended for the public. But now and then I got carried away by such stupid statements.”

Dominic Thiem on ATP Tour after their split

Post their separation, Thiem’s collaboration with Nicolas Massu and Thomas Muster aided him to achieved laurels on the ATP circuit. He lifted up the biggest title of his career at Indian Wells and once again made it to the finals of French Open. Later, he concluded the year 2019 as the ATP Finals runner up with consecutive victories over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

“It may be a problem for parents if someone has been called a Thiem maker. I never had a problem with Dominic, never had a problem with his parents. How that came about is still unclear to me to this day,” Bresnik added.

Dominic Thiem started off the year 2020 by reaching the finals of the Australian Open and then he broke into the top-three rankings. But before he could defend his title in Indian Wells, California, the tennis tour was suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic.