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After defeating world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in five sets to reach his second consecutive final at Roland Garros, Dominic Thiem quickly turned his attention to his last opponent: the champion Rafael Nadal eleven times.
The young Austrian, aged 25, is the first Austrian to reach several Grand Slam finals. He won his third victory over Djokovic in his last four FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. In his first five-set match at Roland Garros, Thiem overcame several rain-related delays and a suspension of the night game to secure his third victory over a top-ranked ATP player.
"It was an epic match," Thiem said. "So many ups and downs and rain, coming back to the locker [room and] on the ground again. I had the impression of having the lead throughout the match, and in the end it was so hard … to both of us [have won]and luckily I had the best [of him] at the end."
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From now on, with just one win from his first Grand Slam title, Thiem will face Nadal in a rehearsal of last year's championship game. The world No. 4 will aim to put an end to Nadal's defeat in the championship games Roland Garros 11-0, after defeating the Grand Slam champion 17 times en route to the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in April.
"Playing Rafa's role here on this pitch is always the ultimate challenge, one of the toughest challenges facing the sport," Thiem said. "I played a very good match against him in Barcelona, it was six weeks ago, so of course I [will] try to do the same thing even if it is much more difficult to play it here.
"But I [will] try to keep all the positive emotions that I feel right now, I live this incredible game today, and leave with a really positive spirit in tomorrow's match, and then we'll see. "
Read Nadal & Thiem: The rivalry
The Austrian is no stranger to success against Nadal. Thiem's victory in Barcelona marks the fourth consecutive year of victory against the Spaniard, following victories in Buenos Aires (2016), Rome (2017) and Madrid (2018). Thiem is one of only two players, alongside Djokovic (7), to beat Nadal four or more times on clay.
"I had very good matches in the past against him on clay, and I already beat him on clay. [this year], "said Thiem. I think it's really important that I participate in the match with the belief of winning. This is the most important thing … It's a big dream for me to win this match tomorrow, to win this title. "
The world No. 4 has held back allegations that fatigue could play a role in the outcome of the final, which will be his fourth consecutive day of action after the bad Paris weather that has upset the program. Concurrent with his five-set victory over Djokovic, Thiem was brought to four sets in his first three games of the tournament.
"I feel good – luckily, I had not had as many long matches before today," Thiem said. "Today and yesterday, of course, it was difficult.It is probably a bit more difficult to play these four hours with all the interruptions than if you play once."
"But all the same, I feel good, I'm full of adrenaline, of course, always from today 's match, and I' ll have it tomorrow too, so I'm not going to not be tired, all this will come after the tournament, I'm ready to leave everything or anything on the ground tomorrow. "
Thiem will want to improve his defeat against Nadal in the final last year. If he becomes only the third man to have defeated Nadal in the clay court Grand Slam (Soderling, Djokovic), the title on the thirteenth round will join Thomas Muster as the second Austrian to win the Grand Slam title.
"I look only in the future for tomorrow's game, which is an incredible opportunity," Thiem said. "I said last year that I was hoping to have another chance in the Grand Slam final and hope to do better then, so tomorrow there is a chance."
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