Thiem on Nadal: "The worst thing in tennis is to play Nadal on the Philippe-Chatrier".

Dominic Thiem, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Denis Shapovalov were invited to express themselves as freely as possible on a wide range of subjects, in the run-up to the UTS Tour Grand Final in London (December 6-8).

Spread around a table, they discussed the aura of the Big Three (Djokovic, Nadal, Federer).

And, unsurprisingly, Thiem returned to Rafael Nadal's aura, particularly at Roland-Garros: "I think the worst thing in tennis is to play Rafa (Nadal) on the Philippe-Chatrier and the guy (the announcer) starts talking: '2005, 2006, 2007, etc...'. You get to the 11th year and it's like you've already lost."

As a reminder, the Austrian has been beaten by the Majorcan in the French Open final on two occasions (2018, 2019).