Thiem Awarded US Open Wild Card, Monfils Withdraws

Dominic Thiem was awarded a main draw wild card into the US Open, the tournament announced on Wednesday.

The Austrian captured his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2020 and owns a 22-6 record at the season’s final major.

The former No. 3 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is working his way back from a wrist injury, which prevented him from defending his title at Flushing Meadows last year.

Also receiving wild cards into the main draw were Americans Sam Querrey, Emilio Nava, JJ Wolf, Ben Shelton and Learner Tien, as well as Frenchman Ugo Humbert and Australian Rinky Hijikata.

Shelton, this year’s NCAA singles champion, has enjoyed a breakthrough run at the Western & Southern Open, where on Wednesday he upset World No. 5 Casper Ruud to reach the third round on his ATP Masters 1000 debut.

The tournament also announced Americans who will receive a qualifying wild card: Murphy Cassone, Oliver Crawford, Martin Damm, Brandon Holt, Aleks Kovacevic, Bruno Kuzuhara, Alex Rybakov, Ethan Quinn and Zachary Svajda.

Gael Monfils, a former semi-finalist in New York, withdrew from the tournament due to an injury he suffered in Montreal.

“Following the latest medical exams that I took upon returning in Europe, I will sadly not be able to play at the US Open this year,” Monfils tweeted. “I am forced to undergo a new period of treatment before being able to resume tournaments.”