Dominic Thiem sued for whopping $550,000 from former manager over breach of contract

With the hearing of the legal dispute between Dominic Thiem and former coach/manager, Gunter Bresnik having begun earlier this week, reports suggest that the two might be headed for a settlement soon. Bresnik, who parted ways with his student of almost 15 years, in 2019, sued his mentee for a whopping €450,000 ($550,000) after the latter's US Open win, claiming a breach of contract. Thiem has had a breakthrough year in 2020, winning his first Grand Slam title and reaching two finals, at the Australian Open and the Nitto ATP Finals. 

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Dominic Thiem-Gunter Bresnik dispute headed for out-of-court settlement

Dominic Thiem's longtime coach Gunter Bresnik has sued the US Open star, with the claim that he is still entitled to a share of Thiem's income. According to Bresnik, a 2014 agreement between himself and Thiem guarantees him 30% of his student's income until his retirement. This contract is said to have been amended in 2016, to make it time-bound, but without the knowledge of Thiem's current coach, Herwig Straka. 

Unaware of this, Straka negotiated another settlement with Bresnik in May 2019, that would allow him access to some part of Thiem's income for an unknown period. Thiem’s ​​lawyer Manfred Ainedter, however, has declared this last contract null and void in February 2020 and dissolved it. In his statement, Ainedter claimed that Thiem and Straka were “fraudulently deceived” by Bresnik in the drawing up of this agreement - a claim that Bresnik vehemently denies. 

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Thiem showed by to the hearing at the Palace of Justice in Vienna on Friday with his brother, Moritz. Bresnik was also present with his legal team, who had allegedly offered that they would be ready to terminate all contracts if their client got 20% of the disputed income for the next three years. However, the latest reports state that both parties have now agreed on an out-of-court settlement that will be led by a judicial mediator in the last week of February. 

Thiem ATP ranking and Thiem Grand Slams

After starting the year as the World No.4, Dominic Thiem has ended 2020 with a career-high ranking of No.3 - overtaking Roger Federer to get to there. Thiem's single title for the year - his first Slam title at the US Open - is not an accurate depiction of Thiem's campaign this season. With 17 ATP titles to his name, Thiem will go into 2021 hoping to finally break through the domination of the 'Big Three' and win some of the bigger titles on offer.

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Thiem net worth

According to Celebrity Net Worth, the Thiem net worth figure stands at $14 million. Of this, $28,163,125 come just from Thiem's ATP career prize money earnings. Besides this, Thiem has sponsorship deals with Adidas, Babolat, Bank Austria, Kia, Rolex, Red Bull, and Sky Sport. Thiem was 9th on the list of highest-paid tennis players from June 2019-June 2020 with earnings of $11.1 million in this period alone.

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