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Rafael Nadal maintained his grip on the French Open by beating Austria's fourth favorite, Dominic Thiem, in four sets, to win the 12th Men's Singles title.
The Spaniard has won for the third consecutive year at Roland Garros with a 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1 victory in a final of high quality.
The 33-year-old is the first player to win 12 singles titles in the same Grand Slam and has now won 18 major tournaments.
"I can not explain what I've accomplished and how I feel.It's a dream," said Nadal.
"To play for the first time in 2005, I never thought in 2019 that I would always be there – it's an amazing and very special moment for me."
That leaves the southpaw behind Switzerland's Roger Federer, who he beat in the semifinals, and three ahead of world No. 1 Serbian Novak Djokovic, whose bid was defeated by Thiem.
The second-seeded triumphed up to the clay when he won the match on the second match, lying behind the baseline, arms outstretched, while he contemplated the magnitude of his exploit.
The clay covered with plaster on his back, he got up and took the applause of a thronged crowd of Roland Garros who had been used to seeing him triumph.
Thiem, 25, suffered his second defeat in the Grand Slam final after losing three sets against Nadal in the final last year.
Nadal's victory at the base of a brutal departure
Hundreds of Spanish spectators moving around Chatrier, identified by their red and yellow flags, their soccer jerseys and their face mask, have become an almost annual event before the men's final at Roland Garros since 2005.
Nadal won all but three appearances, with his only defeats in the fourth round of 2009 against Robin Soderling and the quarterfinals of 2015 against Novak Djokovic. In 2016, he retired before the third round due to an injury.
That meant that he was qualifying for Sunday's final with a record at Roland Garros with 92 wins and two losses.
A very competitive first match was tighter than the score suggests, Nadal has taken the last four games to take advantage after 55 minutes of tension.
The two players understood the importance of taking a quick start, Nadal trying to take advantage of the mental and physical fatigue of his opponent, who had finished his delayed semifinal against Djokovic (less than 24 hours earlier).
The result was a physical battle, full of intense exchanges as each man tried to gain the upper hand by force.
Thiem scored the first point of the match at 2-2, putting aside an overload that left many people in Chatrier – who only included a handful of Austrian supporters dressed in red and white – who were raised to celebrate it.
Nadal responded instantly, gaining three points in the next match and taking the second with a precise forehand that went past Thiem.
Staying with Nadal was one thing, turning that into taking a revenge from the champion proved to be a more difficult task.
Nadal scored another decisive point in a long service match for a 4-3 lead, a decisive moment as he progressed to 5-3 while an aggressive forehand shook Thiem on the decisive point .
That let Nadal serve for the first set, which he got when Thiem shot a wide backhand on the second point.
Mental and physical efforts weigh on Thiem
Thiem knew that he could hardly afford to score behind the defending champion. Turning to second place would have extinguished his hopes.
Following the intensity of the opening set, the level dropped to the second while the service dominated.
Only six points were earned in the first eleven games – five for Nadal and one for Thiem – before Thiem, out of nowhere, ended up with two points.
And the Austrian equalized the match when Nadal blinked, hitting a backhand reverse after a 10-shot exchange.
But efforts to win this set, play four days in a row and have 24 hours less than Nadal to recover from the semifinals may have had negative consequences.
Nadal cut the game at the end of the set, probably for a mental recovery, leaving Thiem waiting on the baseline for the start of the third set.
Whether Nadal used a delay tactic or not, the breakthrough worked.
Thiem played in a mediocre service match while Nadal broke his love for love, the Spanish backed him up with a socket for love sealed with an exquisite volley of gold. ; dizziness.
Nadal won the opening 11 points for the third goal, opening a new break when Thiem fired a forehand in goal.
Thiem only won seven points in the third set before ending 30 minutes of play with another unforced error in goal.
He started to look tired in the fourth set – especially mentally – and Nadal smelled blood.
The Spaniard took a 3-0 lead after scoring two break points in his two service matches, before crashing again for a 5-1 lead.
Although Thiem saved a match point, he could not prevent the inevitable and struck long to serve the Nadal in order to trigger jubilant celebrations from the Spanish.
Analysis
The former British number one Greg Rusedski on BBC Radio 5 Live
It was by far the best game we have seen at these championships.
Thiem was physically standing against Nadal in the first set. We knew that Thiem had to make a good start to win his first major and that's what he did. It was electrifying.
The sensation of last year's final was different. Thiem was not impressed. He was not like a deer in the limelight, as he had been during his first big final.
But it was about as good as I saw Nadal play on clay, which speaks volumes for a champion 12 times.
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