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Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem has great admiration for ski jumpers and he badly wanted to meet Austrian ski jump star Gregor Schlierenzauer. Thiem, the 2020 US Open champion, is one of the most popular Austrian athletes.
Schlierenzauer is one of the most accomplished Austrian athletes as he holds the record for 53 individual ski jumping wins. “They are crazy,” Thiem told tennis.com. “I cannot relate to ski jumping, nobody can.
Playing tennis, you can do it no matter how good you are. Millions of people play tennis, but you cannot say, ‘I want to go ski jumping tomorrow’, go on a hill and jump down”.
Thiem has nothing but good to say about Schlierenzauer
When Thiem met Schlierenzauer, he realized that the ski jumper was everything he expected to be.
“I liked it since I was a little kid. I enjoyed watching, I still do now,” Thiem revealed. “He was the first ski jumper I met in person. When I became better, I started to tell people I want to meet Gregor because I loved to watch him.
He’s a super nice guy. We’re quite a lot in contact, actually”. Thiem revealed he used to ski but he hasn’t been skiing much over the last few years because he doesn’t want to risk suffering an injury while skiing.
“Until the age of 14, we went with one of my best friend’s families every year, and it was maybe one of the best weeks every year. I enjoyed skiing so much,” he reflects. “Usually, the air is much better and clearer in winter and everything is more peaceful.
You watch the sun going down behind the mountains with all this snow. It makes such a beautiful picture and it’s [one] I’m going to have in my mind forever. “Skiing is definitely a thing I miss the most. Right now, I’m not allowed to do it. It’s too dangerous for tennis”.
