From semi-final ecstasy to heartbreak in the final, Dominic Thiem reflects on his Roland Garros run.
After edging out world number one Novak Djokovic on Saturday afternoon in the semi-finals, the Austrian just didn’t have enough to beat Rafael Nadal in the final.
After a valiant first two sets, it all went downhill for the Austrian as he lost in four sets to the now 12-time champion of Roland Garros.
Speaking in his press conference, Thiem spoke about the contrasting emotions within the space of 24 hours as joy became disappointment, “Yesterday was one of my biggest victories in my career, for sure,” Thiem explained.
“That’s a unique and also brutal thing, I guess, in our sport, in tennis, that I won six amazing matches. I beat yesterday one of the biggest legends of our game. Not even 24 hours later, I have to step on court against another amazing legend of our game, against the best clay-court player of all time.
“That also shows how difficult nowadays it is to win a Grand Slam. That’s what I meant yesterday. I was feeling so happy, with such a good win, and today, of course I lost. I failed to make my biggest dream in my tennis life come true, so I don’t feel that good like yesterday.”
The fourth seed also spoke about how amazing Rafael Nadal’s achievement of winning 12 titles is and how tough he is to beat in a final at Roland Garros, “Yeah, he played, I think, outstanding today, because especially in the first two sets I played very good tennis. What he was performing I think is unbelievable, really,” the Austrian said.
“There has to be a reason why he’s that successful. I mean, he won 18 Grand Slams, which is a big number, which is only two less than Roger. So definitely he’s one of the greatest of all time. Today, as well, I saw why.
“As I said, I played very good the first two sets, and then I had a little drop, which is against most of the players not that bad, but he took the chance and stepped right on me. That’s it. I can only congrats him on how amazing he performed today.”
Despite failing in his bid to win a grand slam, Thiem can hold his head up high as he became the first player since Novak Djokovic in 2014 to take a set off Nadal in a French Open final.
There is no doubt that his hard-work and humble attitude towards tennis will eventually lead him to winning a grand slam in the future.
The next tournament for Thiem will be Halle in a couple of weeks time.
