Dominic Thiem retired from professional tennis in October 2024 at the age of 31. Persistent problems with his right wrist following a serious injury had repeatedly disrupted the latter stages of his career.

But the 2020 US Open champion hasn’t given up sport altogether. Thiem now plays amateur football for Badener AC, where he just happens to wear Baumi’s number 14. “I started playing for a club when I was seven or eight. Back then there were only 16 squad numbers and number 16 was already taken, so I chose 14. I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

Fittingly, Baumi had a surprise for his fellow Austrian during the interview: a new RBL shirt with Thiem and the number 14 on the back.

The pair are already planning their next meeting too. Thiem hopes to come to Leipzig in October to watch the Red Bulls at the Red Bull Arena. The former tennis star is a big Bundesliga fan and regularly follows RBL, although he has also supported Chelsea since childhood. It was the Blues side featuring Frank Lampard that first captured his imagination, and he has followed the club ever since.

Dominic, winning a Grand Slam was one of the biggest goals of your career. Did achieving it make you happier in the long term?

Dominic Thiem: “From a sporting point of view, definitely, because it was the biggest goal I had in my career. But one thing I had to learn afterwards was that there’s much more to life than your sporting career.

Until I won that Grand Slam, I had devoted 100 percent of my life to achieving that goal. Afterwards, I realised there was so much more out there and that I needed to set myself goals in other areas too.

Of course, winning that title still makes me happy today. But that chapter of my life is over and now there’s something new. I don’t want my happiness to depend on sporting success anymore. I found that whole process incredibly interesting, and I think it’s something every athlete has to deal with at some point.”

Baumi, you said earlier that Dominic is also someone you look up to when you think about life after football. Why?

Baumi: “Domi has shown me what life after professional sport can look like. I think it’s really interesting how many different things he has going on and how many different areas he’s involved in.

I’m 27 and I still don’t know exactly what I’ll do after my career. That’s why it’s so interesting to speak to people who have already made that transition. There’s a lot you can learn from them. Domi is definitely someone I look up to in that respect.”