Dominic Thiem admits it wasn't very pleasant for him to hear the announcer listing all of Rafael Nadal's French Open titles just before their finals and the crowd going crazy as that only made him more tense than he already was.
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In 2018, the Austrian made his maiden Grand Slam final at Roland Garros.
There, he met the Spanish tennis icon, who routinely handled him 6-4 6-3 6-2 for his 11th French Open title.
The following year, Thiem put up another big run at the Parisian Slam and even beat Novak Djokovic en route to making back-to-back finals.
But once again, he didn't have an answer for Nadal as he lost 3-6 7-5 1-6 1-6.
Thiem on what he found 'very frustrating' before his French Open final vs Nadal
One of the most frustrating things is when youre warming up on court just before the match starts and the speaker starts listing all his titles at Roland Garros," the former world No. 3 said while attending a sponsor's event.
"The crowd gets crazier and crazier and the noise gets louder and louder. Its very frustrating for the opponent. Its actually a wonderful thing because the crowd gets excited and everything goes crazy in an instant.
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Were playing against an absolute legend of tennis and things like that just reinforce that, but yeah, in the moment I can tell you its very frustrating.
In the end, Thiem never again made a final at Roland Garros while Nadal finished with a record 14 French Open titles.
While the Austrian didn't manage to become a Grand Slam champion in Paris, he avoided finishing his career without a Slam after winning the 2020 US Open.
In his last season on the Tour in 2024, the Austrian tennis legendonly played in the French Open qualifying and failed to make the main draw after losing in the qualifying second round.
