Dominic Thiem reveals what went wrong for him against Alexei Popyrin

Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem felt very bad on the court on Thursday and that led to him retiring his Australian Open second round clash. Wildcard world No. 149 Alexei Popyrin led 7-5 6-4 2-0 when the Austrian was forced to retire the match due to soreness and fatigue.

An exhausting opener took a toll on No. 7 seed Thiem as he failed to recover for the match against Popyrin. The Austrian finished his first-round clash against Benoit Paire in the early hours of Wednesday 6-4 6-3 5-7 1-6 6-3.

On Thursday, Popyrin saved a total of five break points before he broke world No. 8 Thiem in the 12th game to claim the opener. The Austrian asked for the trainer early in the second set and received paracetamol for soreness and jelly beans for energy.

Unfortunately, that didnt help Thiem — who lost the second set after failing to convert two consecutive game points in the 10th game. The Austrian retired the match after he got broken in the second game of the third set.

I felt very bad during the game, obviously, Thiem said post-match. Yesterday after the long match I felt really fine, actually. (But) started to feel like my whole body hurt, general not feeling well at all, and in the match, it got worse.

The whole body was hurting, I was feeling weak, and there was no sense to continue. Also read: TA boss wants Bernard Tomic – Lleyton Hewitt behind closed doors meeting