Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem says it “hurts” to retire from tennis at the age of 31 but he believes it is the “right decision”.

The Austrian’s career came to an end with a straight-set defeat by Italy’s Luciano Darderi in the first round of the Vienna Open, with Thiem having announced last week that he would retire after his home tournament.

The former world number three, who won the Vienna title in 2019, was beaten 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 by the world number 42.

“Those emotions, those feelings. Being in the flow, like I was in the first set. These are the things that will never come back,” said Thiem.

“It hurts. But at the same time I was playing some forehands, especially in the second set, and they were not even coming to the net. So it was the right decision.”

Following his defeat to Darderi, the crowd held up cards displaying the Austrian flag and the message “Danke Dominic” (“Thank you Dominic”).

Thiem gave an on-court speech before placing his racquet in a glass case, to be auctioned to raise funds for charity.

“I’ve had so many nice goodbyes in the last few months, but today I want to say thank you for all the sensational years,” said Thiem.

“I am only a part of this career. The whole journey has been an absolute dream. I couldn’t have imagined it any better.”

A ceremony was held in Vienna on Sunday, including Thiem playing an exhibition set against Alexander Zverev – the player he beat to win the 2020 US Open.

Thiem won 17 titles at ATP Tour level during his career. He was a French Open finalist in 2018 and 2019 and runner-up at the Australian Open in 2020.

He also claimed important wins over all of the ‘Big Three’ – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

However, less than a year after his New York triumph, Thiem sustained a wrist injury that kept him off the tour for 10 months and resulted in his ranking plummeting to outside the top 350.

Thiem returned to the top 100 last year but has been unable to find his best game and confirmed in May that this season would be his last.

Federer paid tribute to Thiem on Instagram, saying: “An illustrious career comes to an end. Congratulations, Domi.

“No matter the surface, you always found a way to beat me with your thunderous backhands. But more importantly you did it with grace and sportsmanship.”