Dominic Thiem sparks police investigation with ‘porn noises’ coming from tennis court

Dominic Thiem reportedly sparked a police investigation in Austria after his neighbours thought they were hearing ‘porn noises’ coming from the Traiskirchen training centre. But when officers arrived to see what was going on, it transpired that the player had merely been on the tennis court practising – and that it was his noises while hitting the ball that locals were hearing.

One-time US Open winner Thiem has been a regular on the ATP Tour for nearly a decade and made his first Grand Slam appearance at the Australian Open in 2014. The 28-year-old reached his first major semi-final two years later at the French Open and went on to play in back-to-back Roland Garros finals in 2018 and 2019.

He lost both of those encounters to Rafael Nadal, before losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open final. But he finally got his hands on a Slam two years ago as he overcame a two-set deficit in the 2020 US Open final to defeat German opponent Alexander Zverev.

Thiem, who was once ranked at No 3 in the world, has been struck down by a wrist injury over the last nine months and has dropped to world No 352 after missing three of the last four Slams. He returned at the French Open but was defeated by eventual finalist Casper Ruud in straight sets in the first round.

JUST IN: Matteo Berrettini makes Wimbledon choice between Djokovic and Nadal

Thiem’s injury struggles appear to have taken a turn for the worse in Traiskirchen and he has now been forced to pull out of Wimbledon, which is due to get underway later this month. The Austrian reached the fourth round at the All England Club in 2017 but hasn’t won a match at SW19 since that tournament.

And he has now decided to skip the grass-court season as he battles to get fit and rediscover his top form. “There’s not enough power in my shots yet,” Thiem said after losing to Ruud in Paris. “The first serve doesn’t earn enough. Sometimes I make stupid decisions in the rallies, like dropshots. It’s going to take time until it’s fine again.

“I’m not doing anything different in training sessions than before. I started to have it very consistent six or seven weeks ago. I just have to be patient. It’s going to take a few more months until I can really say, ‘okay, I can beat those guys again.’”

Express Sport giveaway – win a 55″ OLED LG TV here