Wolfgang Thiem about Bresnik: "In the meantime so far that he has sued us"
As nice as the reports about Dominic Thiem's US Open victory are - this news is one of the sadder ones.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Sep 15, 2020, 08:22 pm
It was one of the greatest and most beautiful success stories in tennis - and in sport in general: that of Dominic Thiem and Austria's star coach Günter Bresnik. He had once employed Thiem's father Wolfgang as a tennis coach in his academy and at some point had an eye on his son Dominic, with whom Papa Thiem scooped a few balls during his breaks. The rest? Is history. And since Sunday, since Dominic Thiem's first Grand Slam tournament victory : Austrian sports history .
The relationship between the Thiems and Bresnik is also history. Thiem had separated from his teacher in spring 2019, first as a coach, then as a manager, and also initially apparently factual. Later, bitter statements came to light. Without him, Thiem would be "a future player and Wolfgang a club trainer in Seebenstein," said Bresnik, who also missed adherence to important values such as honesty and loyalty. "Not much has been observed" from this. "I don't really have a problem with it, except that you might get annoyed that you were fooled. If I owe someone everything, then I can't deal with them that way."
Wolfgang Thiem: "Was a good friend of Günter Bresnik"
The 59-year-old soon regretted the "future-player-Seebenstein" formulation, "every now and then I let myself be carried away with such stupid statements," he said later.
However, there does not seem to have been any reconciliation. Because as Wolfgang Thiem announced on Monday in "Sport and Talk from Hangar-7" on ServusTV , Bresnik Thiem has meanwhile sued. "It really makes me sad. I was a good friend of Günter Bresnik. We are now so far that he has sued us. The situation is unpleasant, but the story is over for me," said the Thiem dad, who also complained that in the last five years of the Bresnik cooperation, not much has gone on.
Will there be another happy ending between Bresnik and Team Thiem? Seems unlikely at the moment. But it would be nice anyway.