Many highlights

Thiem in Paris: It was never going to be enough for the title

Dominic Thiem made it to the final in Paris twice - twice Rafael Nadal was too strong.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)

Dominic Thiem's French Open career came to an inglorious end in the second qualifying round on Wednesday. The 30-year-old has only reached two major tennis finals at Roland Garros, even though he won his only Grand Slam title to date at the 2020 US Open.

Thiem lost out to the now 14-time Paris winner Rafael Nadal in both his 2018 and 2019 finals, while Thiem had reached the semi-finals the two years before that.

He made his debut at Roland Garros in 2010 with an opening defeat in the juniors. The following year, however, the 17-year-old reached the junior final, where he suffered a narrow three-set defeat to the US American Björn Fratangelo. The Lichtenwörth native celebrated his first victory in a main event at the clay court classic in 2014 against Frenchman Paul-Henri-Mathieu, the following first match against Nadal was lost 2:6, 2:6, 3:6 in round two. And in the following year, Thiem was only granted one victory, finishing in the second round.

Breakthrough in 2016
The then 22-year-old made his breakthrough in 2016 when he reached the semi-finals against Belgian David Goffin, where top seed Novak Djokovic was one size too big. In 2017, he got his revenge on the Serb - seeded No. 7 - in the quarter-finals with an impressive 7:6(5), 6:3, 6:0. In the semi-finals, he lost 3:6, 4:6, 0:6 to Nadal. In subsequent years, the Iberian proved to be too high a hurdle in the final. In 2018, Thiem lost the title duel 4:6, 3:6, 2:6, in 2019, after a five-set victory over Djokovic, it was more even with a 3:6, 7:5, 1:6, 1:6.

Dominic Thiem at the French Open in 2020

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

A 6:4, 6:4, 5:7, 3:6, 6:3 victory over Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the round of 16 at the 2020 edition, which was postponed to the fall due to coronavirus, was Thiem's last main event win at the French Open. Just a few weeks after his triumph at the US Open, he reached the quarter-finals against his Argentinian friend Diego Schwartzman. In the past three years, he suffered opening defeats against Pablo Andujar (ESP), Hugo Dellien (BOL) and Pedro Cachin (ARG) before Finland's Otto Virtanen ended the French Open story of the soon-to-retire Thiem.