Dominic Thiem had parted ways with his first coach, Günter Bresnik, back in early 2019. Bresnik was his coach along with his manager and was known to be quite stern. Apparently, they didn’t have a quiet breakup as Bresnik sued Thiem following their split. The lawsuit ended in an out-of-court settlement.

What was the dispute between Günter Bresnik and Dominic Thiem about?

Bresnik had sued Thiem for 450,000 Euros. The player and coach split in 2019 and Bresnik alleged that even after the split, Thiem had earned income from sponsorship and endorsement deals that were secured by Bresnik. Thus, Bresnik was to be given a share of that income. It is said that in their contract Bresnik was to receive 30 percent of all the deals till Thiem’s retirement.

How and when did the dispute start?

After Herwig Straka became Thiem’s manager in 2019, he changed Thiem and Bresnik’s contract and shortened it. But Thiem’s legal team declared the contract void and ended the truce. This didn’t go well with Bresnik.

The first hearing was on December 18th, 2020. Bresnik’s legal representatives wanted Thiem to adhere to the contract. The contract was initially until the end of Thiem’s career and later it was amended by Straka to make it time-bound. This is the contract that Bresnik wanted to be followed.

“It’s about respecting a contract,” said Bresnik’s lawyer, Gottfried Korn.

But Thiem’s legal team denied this ‘fraudulent’ claim by Bresnik. Earlier, after the split, they offered Bresnik two million Euros or ten percent of Thiem’s income earned during his tenure, but the ex-coach rejected it.

“It’s about the money. He refused. We certainly do not offer more,” Ainedter countered.