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Dominic Thiem, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Tennis News, US Open Tennis

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal US Open absence ‘isn’t too big of a deal’ says Dominic Thiem


Dominic Thiem says the absence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal from the US Open ‘doesn’t really matter,’ although he admits he misses watching them in action.

Nadal opted not to defend his title due to concerns over coronavirus and scheduling, while Federer is missing due to a knee injury.

It’s the first time this century that a Grand Slam has been played without at least one of them, but Thiem believes tennis is showing it can thrive without them.

“The absence of them is never nice,” Thiem told reporters of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“I can speak only about myself, [but] I love to watch them, as well. Even if I’m player myself, I love to watch them, watch them compete.

“But I think it’s not too big of a deal, because it’s not the first time in a major that these two are not playing.

“And in a few years it’s going to be every major without them, so I think it’s not that big of a deal.

“There are still many, many super players around. So it doesn’t really matter.”


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.