Thiem on Nadal: "I'm very proud of these two French Open finals against him".

Dominic Thiem, now retired, spoke about his two French Open finals, both of which he lost to Rafael Nadal.

He says: "To be honest, I'm now very proud of those two finals against him. To play in a Grand Slam final is an incredible feat. It's very difficult to achieve.

Two weeks of very tough competition and, if you think about it, I had the opportunity to play twice against the best player in the history of the French Open.

Rafa has won the tournament 14 times and he's done it twice against me. That's something I'm proud of. The first final didn't go so well.

It was my first Grand Slam final and I had almost no experience. The second, on the other hand, was a great match.

I have excellent memories of both matches. I tried to play my best tennis.

One of the most frustrating things is when you're warming up on the court just before the match starts. The announcer starts listing all his French Open titles.

The crowd gets crazier and crazier and the noise gets louder and louder and louder. It's very frustrating for the opponent.

In fact, it's wonderful because the crowd goes wild and everything goes crazy all at once.

You're playing against an absolute tennis legend, and things like that just confirm it, but yes, in the moment, I can guarantee you it's very frustrating."