The final of the men’s singles tournament at Roland Garros 2018 between defending champion Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem will take place on Sunday on Court Philippe Chatrier at Stade Roland Garros.

Date: June 10, 2018

Match time: 3 PM local time / 9 AM EDT –  New York, Montreal / 2 PM BST – United Kingdom / 3 PM  CET – Spain, France, Germany, Italy / 11 PM AEDT – Melbourne. To convert to your local time, use this website.

Rafa on playing Thiem:

He’s an amazing player. He beat me this year in Madrid. He has big power, he’s playing with big confidence. I know I have to play at my best. I believe I can be ready for that final. It’s going to be a tough one.

If I play well, I normally have my chances. If I don’t play well, it will be almost impossible, because I play against a player that’s going too well.

Thiem on playing Rafa: 

He’s a big favourite against everybody. Still, I know how to play against him. I have a plan.

I’m also aware that here it’s tougher. He likes the conditions more here than in Madrid, for sure. Best-of-five is also different story. I think also a good thing is that I faced him already twice here.

Rafa’s route to the final:

R1: 6-4 6-3 7-6 Bolelli 

R2: 6-2 6-1 6-1 Pella 

R3: 6-3 6-2 6-2 Gasquet 

R4: 6-3 6-2 7-6 Marterer 

QF: 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 Schwartzman

SF: 6-4 6-1 6-2 Del Potro

Thiem’s route to the final:

R1: 6-2 6-4 6-1 Ivashka 

R2: 6-2 2-6 6-4 6-4 Tsitsipas 

R3: 6-3 6-7 6-3 6-2 Berrettini 

R4: 6-2 6-0 5-7 6-4 Nishikori 

QF: 6-4 6-2 6-1 Zverev

SF: 7-5 7-6 6-1 Cecchinato

Two of their nine matches have come at Roland Garros, and Rafa has won both of them, including a straight-sets defeat during last year’s semi-finals.

The Austrian has earned the tag the Prince of Clay in recent times and he came into Roland-Garros as the only player to have beaten Rafa on clay this season – the second straight year that’s been the case – having ended Rafa’s 21-match win streak on the surface in the Madrid quarter-finals last month. 

• Rafa will attempt to become the first player in the Open Era (since April 1968) to win 11 titles at three different tour-level events, having won his 11^th titles at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters earlier this year.
• At 32 years 7 days, Rafa is bidding to become the 4th man in the Open Era to win 3 or more Grand Slams titles after turning 30. Federer, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall are the only men in the Open Era to have won 3 or more Grand Slam titles after turning 30.
• Rafa has a 16-7 win-loss record in Grand Slam finals, going into today’s match – but has won all 10 Roland Garros finals he has contested.
• He is bidding to win his 57th career clay court title. By winning his 50th clay court title at 2017 Monte Carlo-1000, he set an Open Era record for the most career clay court titles ahead of Vilas (49).
• He is bidding to record his 237th Grand Slam match-win today. By recording his 234th Grand Slam match-win in the round of 16, he claimed sole ownership of 3rd place on the list for most Grand Slam match-wins ahead of Jimmy Connors. Only Federer (332 Grand Slam match-wins) and Djokovic (244) have won more matches at the majors.

Good luck and Vamos Rafa!

Sources: ITF, ATP World Tour