It has come down to the final two. If you are a regular reader of the Sports Social magazine, you would have come across an article published on April 4, which gave us an early prediction for the men's French Open. And the two top-rated players in that list will make their way to the Philippe-Chatrier stadium in a rematch of 2018 final.
On one side of the court will be the 11-time champion and 17-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal who has been on scintillating form in Paris while on the other side is world number four and last year's finalist Dominic Thiem, who will be high in confidence after knocking out world number one Novak Djokovic in five sets.
While Nadal leads their head-to-head, Thiem has four wins on clay over the 33-year-old, second only to Djokovic. Thiem is the only player to beat Nadal on clay in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 but it is the Spaniard who has a 3-0 advantage at Roland Garros, including a straight-sets win in last year's final.
Nadal beat long-time rival Roger Federer in straight sets
In a best of five on clay, Nadal is an entirely different challenge. He has dropped just two sets in Paris in the last three years. One last year against Diego Schwartzman and one surprisingly against David Goffin in the third round. Since then he has dismantled Kei Nishikori and longtime rival Roger Federer in straight sets, dropping just 14 games.
Winning the French Open is very important for Nadal at this time in his career as it would take him to 18 Grand Slams, just two behind Federer and three clear off Djokovic.
Thiem beat Djokovic in five sets
Then there is the Austrian Dominic Thiem, who many consider being Nadal's heir to the throne. It is Thiem's second consecutive French Open final. After a slow start to the tournament, where he dropped one set in each of the first three rounds, Thiem began firing on all cylinders just at the right time taking out an in-form Gael Monfils and Karen Khachanov in straight sets. But it was in the semi-finals where Thiem made a case for himself as he was the first player to beat Djokovic in 27 Grand Slam matches and halted a historical second 'Djoko Slam'.
Nadal leads the 8-4 head to head and 7-4 on clay. Their last Grand Slam meeting in the US Open turned out to be a classic as Nadal prevailed in a fifth set tie-breaker. And if current form is anything to go by, we are in for another classic (fingers crossed).
So will it be an unheard dozen of French Opens and a number 18 for Nadal or will Thiem be just the third man in history after Robin Soderling and Djokovic to beat the Spaniard in the French Open and claim his maiden Grand Slam
