Dominic Thiem thinks he'll be ready to challenge Rafael Nadal for French Open title

Austria's Dominic Thiem believes he will be fine for the French Open and ready to compete for another Grand Slam title after capturing his maiden Major glory at the US Open.

On Sunday, Thiem recovered from two sets down to beat No. 5 seed Alexander Zverev 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (6) in the US Open final. 

Thiem, who ended runner-up to Rafael Nadal in each of the past two French Open finals, was asked post-final if the Spaniard was in better position since he skipped the US Open.

"Well, I think physically I'm going to be fine, 100%. I'm going to have enough time to recover from all the troubles I had," Thiem said.

"But the question is how I'm going to do it with the emotions mentally. Obviously, I've never been in this situation. I achieved a big, big goal. Well, I don't know how I'm going to feel the next days.

"At the same time it's going to be or I expect that it's going to be easier for me now in the biggest tournaments because, of course, I had it in the back of my head that I had a great career so far, way better career than I could ever dreamt of, but until today there was still a big part, a big goal missing.

"With this goal achieved, I think and I hope that I'm going to be a little bit more relaxed and play a little bit more freely at the biggest events."

Thiem insists he never took Zverev for granted 

Thiem was performing great throughout the whole US Open -- he was considered as the favorite -- but he wasn't fazed by that. 

"Well, I mean, the media put me as a favorite in that match. That was not how I went in. I know what Sascha is capable of. I always remembered also the tough match we had in Australia, which was completely open, which was on the edge the whole match," Zverev said.

"I went into it expecting a tough match, expecting an open match. Well, in the first two sets and a break down, it was one way for him, but as I said, never stopped believing, never stopped believing that I'm going to free up and start playing better at one point.

"Well, it doesn't matter at the end who did I beat or which tournament it is. I mean, I just won a major and it's just amazing."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3mofugA