“Rafael Nadal steps it up one more level… you don’t know how to win a point anymore” – Dominic Thiem on Spaniard’s French Open dominance

Dominic Thiem, Casper Ruud, and Alex de Minaur recently talked about Rafael Nadal's dominance at the French Open in an episode of Ultimate Tennis Showdown's All On The Table.

The Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) organized its first event of the 2024 season in Oslo, Norway, from February 9-11, with Andrey Rublev taking the championship home. He played against De Minaur in the final after the duo outperformed others including Ruud and Thiem.

Thiem, Ruud, and De Minaur held a candid conversation on the sidelines of the UTS Oslo and discussed numerous things about their personal and professional lives.

One of the things that came up during the session was the trio's experiences of playing against Rafael Nadal, especially at Roland Garros. De Minaur was the only one on the table to have not met the Spaniard at the claycourt Major and hence, initiated the topic to seek answers from the other two.

"Well you guys have both played Rafa at French," De Minaur said.

Ruud was then seemingly reminded of his humiliating 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 loss to the 14-time French Open champion in the final at Roland Garros in 2022.

"Don't even start... Domi [Dominic Thiem] did much better than me so you should ask him for advice, but he can start. You [Thiem] played him several times… you beat him on clay but not in Roland Garros," Ruud said.

Thiem too recollected his memories of his four failures against Nadal, saying:

"I think five times in Roland Garros… 14, 17, 18, 19 four times. Roland Garros is one, he steps it up one more level. It can be ugly on one point, you don't know how to win a point anymore."

Nadal has lost just three matches in his 115 appearances at the French Open thus far. He was first defeated at the Paris Major by Robin Soderling in 2009 (R16) and then by Novak Djokovic in 2015 (QF) and 2021 (SF).

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Dominic Thiem has defeated Rafael Nadal four times on clay

Dominic Theim

Dominic Thiem has defeated Rafael Nadal six times in their 16 duels. Four out of those six wins have come on clay courts.

Thiem's first meeting with Nadal came at the French Open in 2014, when the latter claimed a 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win in the second round en route to lifting his ninth trophy at Roland Garros.

Thiem then met the Spaniard two years later at the Argentina Open and recorded a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4) win. This was also his first win over the Spaniard on clay. Thiem earned three more clay wins against him going forward.

The Austrian bettered the 22-time Grand Slam champion 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open 2017 and trounced him 7-5, 6-3 a year later in the Madrid Masters quarterfinals. In 2019, he beat the Spaniard 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinal of the Barcelona Open.

Thiem's remaining two wins over Rafael Nadal came in 2020 at the Australian Open and ATP Finals. The two most recently played against each other at the Brisbane International 2024, where the Spaniard registered a straight-set win to take a 10-6 lead in the head-to-head.