Thiem and the worst of facing Nadal at Roland Garros: "It's very frustrating"

Dominic Thiem and Rafa Nadal gave us a beautiful rivalry that ended positively for the Spaniard with 10 victories, compared to the 5 of the Austrian. Interestingly, both retired in 2024, the year they faced each other for the last time in Brisbane. In a recent interview with Relevo, Thiem talked about what it was like to face the manacorí at Roland Garros, where he has never won and where he lost two finals in 2018 and 2019. "Honestly, now, from a distance, I am very proud of those two finals against him. Playing just one Grand Slam final is an incredible achievement. It's very hard to get there. It's two very tough weeks of the tournament, and when I think about it, I had the opportunity to play twice against the greatest player in history at Roland Garros. Rafa won the tournament 14 times, and two of those times were against me. It's something that makes me proud".

Thiem also spoke about what was the worst part of facing Rafa on the Philippe Chatrier: "One of the most frustrating things is when you're warming up on the court just before the match starts. The speaker begins to list all his titles at Roland Garros [...] The crowd gets crazier and the noise rises, rises, and rises. It's very frustrating for the opponent. Actually, it's wonderful because the crowd gets fired up and everything goes crazy all of a sudden. You're playing against an absolute tennis legend, and things like this only confirm it, but yes, in the moment, I can guarantee you it's very frustrating".

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Thiem y lo peor de medirse a Nadal en Roland Garros: "Es muy frustrante"