NEW YORK (AFP) — Dominic Thiem admitted he will miss the “high” of winning after his Grand Slam career came to an end at the US Open on the same Arthur Ashe court where he won his only major in 2020.

The injury-plagued former world No. 3 went down to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 defeat to American 13th seed Ben Shelton, his eighth first round exit at his last 10 Slams.

Thiem had already announced his intention to retire from tennis on home ground in Vienna in October, giving up on his fruitless battle to fully recover from a persistent wrist injury.

“I think that the thing I will miss the most is the feeling after winning a great match, it’s not really comparable to anything else,” Thiem said.

“You don’t really get this feeling, in my case, in life outside of tennis, because it’s like, a real high. It’s like being on drugs a little bit, I guess.”

When Thiem captured his first Slam by defeating Alexander Zverev from two sets down in the 2020 US Open final, it appeared that he was finally poised to challenge the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at the highest level.

It also ended a sequence of three defeats in three Slam finals — to Nadal at the 2018 and 2019 French Open and against Djokovic in five sets at the 2020 Australian Open.

However, his career went into a tailspin in the summer of 2021 when he suffered a wrist injury at the Mallorca ATP tournament.

Thiem suffered serious ligament damage and was forced to sit out the rest of 2021.

He played just two Slams in 2022 and his ranking fell to outside the top 100 for the first time in over a decade.

“I just want to say thanks for all the support. It’s been 10 years since I first played here, I had my greatest success on this court,” said Thiem, whose 2020 triumph was witnessed by just a handful of people with the tournament played out at the height of the Covid pandemic.

“But when I won in 2020, it was weird. It was under very strict conditions and I had my success without any of you here.”

“So I am super-happy to get the chance to play in front of you and on this court. Thanks to you for making up for the time that we missed.”