So that is that for another year at Roland Garros.

Rafael Nadal reigns supreme in Paris for an 11th time. For more on the win read our report here.

We all know what comes next. I can't wait...</s>Rafael Nadal won his 11th French Open title on Sunday, beating out Austria’s Dominic Thiem and becoming the first man to win 11 titles at any Grand Slam tournament.

The 32-year-old Spaniard is only the second player to hold the record, after Margaret Court had won the Australian women’s singles title 11 times.

The top-seeded Nadal won the match 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 at Roland Garros in Paris against Thiem, a 24-year-old who is ranked No. 7. Thiem, who is the only man to beat Nadal on clay over the past two seasons, appeared for his first Grand Slam final.

Nadal had a brief moment of weakness in the first set, when the 24-year-old Austrian broke him in the third game. But after, the Spaniard was imperious. At 2-1 in the fourth set, Nadal stopped serving during a game because he couldn't straighten his left middle finger.

At the following changeover, Nadal was given a salt pill by a doctor and had his left forearm massaged by a trainer.

Sunday’s win was Nadal’s 17th major trophy, only putting him three behind Roger Federer.

Thiem beat Nadal on clay twice, including last month in Madrid that ended Nadal’s 21-match winning streak on clay and his streak of 50 straight sets won on his favorite surface.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>Eyeing a record 11th French Open title, “King of Clay” Rafael Nadal takes on his heir apparent, Dominic Thiem, in the men’s final at Roland Garros. Follow the action on our liveblog starting at 3pm Paris time.

A 10-time champion at Roland Garros, Nadal is bidding to tie Margaret Court’s all-time record of most titles won at a single Grand Slam. The 32-year-old Spaniard has never lost a final on the red clay of Paris. He is the hot favourite against Austria’s Thiem, 24, who has never before played in a Grand Slam final but who beat Nadal on clay earlier this year.</s>Dominic Thiem won 7-5, 7-6 (12-10), 6-1 to earn a place in a Grand Slam final for the first time, while Rafael Nadal crushed Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 to enter the French Open final for the 11th time. The Spaniard is just the second man in the Open Era to advance to 11 championship matches at a single Grand Slam, joining Roger Federer, who has won eight titles from 11 finals at Wimbledon. Thiem became only the second Austrian player to reach the final of Roland Garros , following in the footsteps of Thomas Muster, who won the title in 1995. Thiem is the only man to beat Nadal on clay in the last two seasons - in Madrid this year and Rome in 2017.

When will the Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final be played?

The Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final will be played on June 10, 2018.

Where will the Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final be played?

The Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final will be played on the Philippe-Chatrier court in Paris.

How do I watch the Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final live?

The Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final will be telecast live by the Star Network.

What time does the Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final start?

The live telecast of the Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final is scheduled to begin at 6:30 pm IST.

Where can you follow the Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final online?

The Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem French Open men's singles final will be streamed live on Hotstar.</s>Paris: Rafael Nadal admits that his desire to clinch an 11th French Open title on Sunday is fired by his growing realisation that the end of his career may not be too far away.

The 32-year-old Spaniard, with 16 majors to his name, will play his 24th Grand Slam final at Roland Garros against Dominic Thiem who is in his first.

Victory on Sunday will give Nadal an 11th title in Paris and equal Margaret Court's all-time record for wins at the same Slam event – in her case, the Australian Open from 1960 and 1973

Nadal still trails great rival Roger Federer by four major titles although the Swiss star is more than four years older.

"For me, the motivation to play here always is high, high as possible," said Nadal after breezing past Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 in Friday's semi-finals in what was his 85th win in Paris against just two defeats.

"But for me, I believe that there are limited chances in your career.

"I have lost a lot of opportunities through injuries, and I know the years are going quick. So there is not 10 more chances to keep playing here."

The statistics illustrate Nadal's concerns – he has missed at least eight Slam tournaments in his career through a legacy of wrist and knee problems.

Such is his motivation to win his 17th Grand Slam on Sunday, that the task facing Austrian 24-year-old Thiem was described as "almost impossible" by Del Potro.

"It is almost impossible to beat Rafa," said Del Potro who had his chances in the semi-final but failed to convert any of his seven break points before his challenge petered out into weary hopelessness.

Nadal raced away with 14 of the last 17 games.

"He's too strong. He's improving his backhand a lot. That's why he's the No. 1 and beating all the guys.

'He is fresh, healthy. Everything is perfect'

"He looks fresh. He is healthy. And the strength that he has and the mentality, everything is perfect, works perfect for him playing on clay."

There have, however, appeared to be one or two chinks in Nadal's armour at Roland Garros this year.

On Friday, del Potro was by far the better player in the first set while, in the quarter-finals, Diego Schwartzman won the first set.

It was the first time in three years that Nadal had dropped a set in Paris.

"You can win a set, but not a match against Rafa," said Del Potro keen not to over-egg any hint of weakness in Nadal's game.

At least Thiem has in the past found the key to unravelling the Nadal clay court enigma.

He is the only man to beat the world number one on clay in the last two years – in Madrid this spring and in Rome last year.

In Madrid, Thiem thrived in the quicker, higher altitude conditions to win their quarter-final in straight sets.

But that was only after Nadal had allowed him just two games in a last-eight mauling in Monte Carlo.

In Madrid, Thiem said the key was to be positive against Nadal.

"If I want to beat him, I have to play that way like I did in Rome and in Madrid. But I'm also aware that here it's tougher," said Thiem, the first Austrian in a major final since Thomas Muster won in Paris in 1995.

"He likes the conditions more here than in Madrid, for sure. Best of five is also a different story.

Nadal and Thiem have met nine times – all of them on clay.

Thiem also defeated his rival in Buenos Aires in 2016, joining Novak Djokovic and Gaston Gaudio as the only men to have beaten Nadal three times on clay.

However, Nadal has won both their clashes at Roland Garros – in 2014 and in last year's semi-finals by a comfortable 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 margin.

"I'm facing Rafa so I'm not the one who has the pressure," said Thiem.

Robin Soderling, who famously inflicted Nadal's first defeat at the French Open in 2009, insists Thiem has to take the initiative from the start.

"To beat him in five sets on clay is difficult. It has to be a player that plays extremely well," said the Swede.

"To beat him on clay, I would say the only chance for any player now is to be really aggressive."</s>World No. 1 Rafael Nadal steamrolled past Dominic Thiem as he did the rest of competition this year and for over a decade, capturing an unprecedented 11th French Open title Sunday in Paris, 6-4 6-3 6-2.

The victory at Roland Garros raised Nadal's Grand Slam total to 17, just three behind Roger Federer's 20. The win also means Nadal will remain the top-ranked player in the world.

It was vintage Nadal from start to finish at Court Philippe Chatrier. The Spaniard ruthlessly demolished No.7-seed Thiem despite the 24-year-old Austrian hammering serves at 135 m.p.h. and taking more risks against the King of Clay. Nadal finished with 26 winners and just 24 unforced errors in the two-hour, 42-minute final.

On match point, the fifth championship point, Thiem's backhand return of serve went long, prompting Nadal to lift his arms and shake his head.

It was the second-straight time Nadal won the French Open in straight sets, having defeated Stan Wawrinka in the 2017 final. Five of Nadal's 11 titles were won in straight sets.

Nadal conceded that he suffered some physical issues in his left hand. The 32-year-old managed to battle through it and at one point removed the taping from his forearm.

“Tough moment in the third set when I got a little bit cramped on the hand,” Nadal said. “I was very scared.”

Both players praised each other after the match.

“What you did and what you are doing is one of the most outstanding things that any athlete is doing in any sport,” Thiem said to Nadal. Nadal called Thiem a great player and said he was "sure that you will win here soon."</s>Rafael Nadal described his performance at the French Open last year, when he didn’t surrender a set, as “perfect.”

The world No. 1 wasn’t as invincible this year — there may have been an injury issue — but he was still plenty good enough at the grand slam where he is virtually unbeatable.

Nadal won a record-extending 11th title at Roland Garros and 17th major overall Sunday when he defeated his spirited challenger, Dominic Thiem, 6-4 6-3 6-2 in Paris. When a return went long on a fifth match point, Nadal raised his arms in joy.

The score may have looked rather routine but there was some drama in the third set when Nadal called for the trainer at 2-1, 30-0. He removed the tape from his left wrist and seemed to take a tablet.

When the trainer visited Nadal in his quarterfinal for a similar issue, Nadal said it was simply to prevent sweat from traveling to his hand. But it now appears there is more to it.

Still, Nadal was able to complete the job on court Philippe-Chatrier.

No stranger to rewriting the record books along with his friendly rival, Roger Federer, here is another feat for the Spaniard: He joined Margaret Court in becoming the only tennis players in history to win the same grand slam 11 times. Court claimed the last of her 11 at the Australian Open in 1973.

Thiem was considered the stiffest test for Nadal at the French Open and understandably so.

The Austrian is one of just three players to down Nadal on clay at least three times. The world No. 8, too, was the last man to overcome Nadal on clay, last month in Madrid.

But that’s the best-of-three sets and in different, faster conditions.

Over the best-of-five sets on clay, Nadal improved to 111-2 — it is a figure almost as imposing as the nearby Eiffel Tower — his lone reverses coming against Robin Soderling in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in 2015 at the French Open.

The Austrian — competing in his first grand slam final after a pair of semifinal showings in Paris — needed to win the first set to have any realistic opportunity of ending Nadal’s reign.

Why? Nadal was 95-0 when capturing the opener on clay in the best of five format.

Slow starts have plagued Nadal in several of his matches this fortnight, most notably against 11th-Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals. He lost the first set, then turned things around after a rain delay.

But against Thiem, there was nothing wrong with Nadal’s start. He won the first six points and broke for 2-0.

His lead was reminiscent of their semifinal at the French Open last year, when Nadal also held the early advantage.

Unlike last year — when those first few games realistically settled things — Thiem bounced back, breaking straight away.

The problem for the 24-year-old was that his serve wasn’t co-operating. Serving at less than 50%, Nadal got plenty of looks at second serves.

Thiem dug in — especially in the roughly 13-minute sixth game — but he crumbled attempting to stay in the set, making four unforced errors.

In a 10-minute second game of the second set, Thiem suffered more trauma. He dropped serve on a fifth break chance.

Thiem however was able to hold serve regularly and had a chance to get back on serve but his break chance at 2-4 evaporated when Nadal hit a sublime drop shot, then passing shot.

His lone opportunity of the set indeed vanished.

Thiem courageously saved three break points to start the third, yet dropped serve in his next service game.

Seemingly cruising to victory, that’s when Nadal called for the trainer. He removed the tape from his left wrist — the Mallorcan suffered a wrist injury that ruled him out in the first week of the 2016 edition — and the trainer came out again at 3-2. Nadal appeared to take more tablets.

Yet he just wouldn’t be denied.</s>In full control of the French Open final, a rather familiar position for him, Rafael Nadal suddenly was worried.

He led by two sets plus a break early in the third, when the middle finger on his racket-wielding left hand was cramping so badly he couldn't straighten it. After serving a fault, Nadal took the unusual step of heading to the sideline in the middle of a game.

"Tough moment," Nadal would say later. "I was very scared."

Up in the stands, Nadal's uncle Toni, his former coach, was nervous, too, "because I thought maybe we can have a problem," he said. "But in the end, it was not too difficult."

It rarely is for Nadal at a place he has lorded over the way no other man ever has at any Grand Slam tournament. Nadal dealt with that ultimately minor inconvenience and claimed his record-extending 11th French Open championship Sunday by displaying his foe-rattling excellence in a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 7 seed Dominic Thiem.

"There is a reason why he won 11 times here," said Thiem, a 24-year-old Austrian appearing in his first major final. "It's definitely one of the best things somebody ever achieved in sport."

Thiem was on the couch, watching on TV, in 2005, when Nadal earned his first Grand Slam trophy in Paris at age 19. That began a run of four consecutive French Open triumphs through 2008. He added five straight from 2010-14 and now has two in a row.

Throw in three titles at the U.S. Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the Australian Open, and Nadal is up to 17 majors, second among men only to Roger Federer's 20. The two stars have combined to win the past six Slams.

The victory also allowed the 32-year-old Nadal to hold onto the No. 1 ranking, ahead of Federer.

If there were any reason for a bit of intrigue entering Sunday, it was this: Thiem beat Nadal on red clay at Rome in May 2017 and again at Madrid last month.

But those are not quite the same as the French Open, where Nadal is 86-2 for his career.

"I am sure you will win here in the next couple of years," Nadal told Thiem afterward.

Against many other opponents — maybe ANY other — Thiem would have made things interesting. He pounded huge serves that topped 135 mph (220 kph) — about 25 mph (40 kph) better than Nadal's fastest — and translated into seven aces but also had five double-faults. He took the biggest of big cuts on groundstrokes, his feet leaving the ground as he threw his whole body into them, as if the very outcome — not of any individual point, but the whole shebang — depended on the strength of that one whip of his white racket. That led to 34 winners (eight more than Nadal) but also 42 unforced errors (18 more than Nadal).

Until 4-all, 15-all in the opening set, to be precise. Nadal held for 5-4, and Thiem basically handed over the next game — and the set — with four mistakes. A volley into the net. A forehand wide. A forehand into the net. A forehand long.

Just like that, Nadal was off on a five-game burst to lead 3-0 in the second set.

By then, Nadal was finding his spots. One down-the-line forehand winner landed right at the baseline, leaving Thiem sagging his shoulders and muttering. Another forehand winner from Nadal found a corner, and Thiem yelled toward his coach.

It was a cloudy and steamy afternoon, with the temperature at 77 degrees (24 Celsius) and the humidity approaching 70 percent. Midway through the opening set, Nadal's aqua T-shirt was so soaked with sweat it stuck to him. Those conditions might have contributed to the cramping that affected Nadal about two hours into the final, at 2-1 in the third set.

"I was not able to move the hand, the finger," Nadal said. "I was not (in) control of my finger."

His uncle thought wrapping around Nadal's left forearm was too tight. When he first halted play, Nadal removed that tape, which he said let his circulation improve. At the following changeover, he was given a salt pill by a doctor and had his left forearm massaged by a trainer. After guzzling water during that break, Nadal felt better and was back to playing his unmistakable brand of nearly unbeatable clay-court tennis.

Shortly, he'd be holding the silver trophy, the one he knows so well, and crying.

A few hours earlier, as Nadal and Thiem warmed up, the booming voice of the announcer at Court Philippe Chatrier detailed the bona fides of both. Nadal's introduction included a year-by-year accounting of every time he'd already won the French Open.

The crowd responded at the mention of 2005, initially offering polite applause. It added more voices by the time 2008 rolled around. The crescendo rose to a full-throated roar for 2017.

Go ahead and 2018 to the lengthy list.

"If you tell me seven, eight years ago that I will be here … having this trophy with me again, I will tell you that is something almost impossible," Nadal said. "But here we are."</s>PARIS (CNN) – Having just turned 32 years old, Rafael Nadal is unlikely to win 20 French Opens. But how about 15? He began that quest Sunday, winning his record-extending 11th title on the clay at Roland Garros and 17th major overall with a 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory over his spirited but ultimately vanquished challenger, Dominic Thiem.

“It’s definitely one of the best things somebody ever achieved in sport,” Thiem told reporters.

Nadal also became the second tennis player ever to win 11 titles at the same major, joining Margaret Court. Court won 11 on home soil at the Australian Open, the last coming near the start of the Open Era in 1973. The French Open is not Nadal’s home slam, but it might as well be.

“Memories are forever, and I have incredible memories of this event,” Nadal told reporters. “I don’t want to start explaining all the memories that I have, because they are so long. But since the first time that I came here until today is a love story with this event, not only with the victories, but this is all about the people who are working the event, too.”

Considered to be declining two years ago, Nadal and friendly rival Roger Federer have now won the last six grand slams.

“We have two of the greatest of all time in one era,” summed up James Blake, who beat both Nadal and Federer prior to retiring. “It’s fun to see how they match up and how they keep pushing each other.”

Nadal moved, once again, to within three grand slams of the Swiss. Nadal’s uncle and longtime former traveling coach Toni — who returned to watch his nephew Sunday — said essentially that only time will tell whether Federer can be caught. He also was aware that Federer might go four clear of Nadal in a month at Wimbledon. But Nadal himself wasn’t too bothered.

“I never have been crazy about all this kind of stuff,” he told reporters, and not for the first time when asked about matching the 36-year-old. “No, you can’t be frustrated always if somebody have more money than you, if somebody have a bigger house than you, if somebody have more grand slams than you. You can’t live with that feeling, no? You have to do your way.”

“And then you have to be happy with the things that are happening to you, no? I happy that other people have things, and I am very satisfied, and I feel very lucky with all the things that happened to me,” Nadal added.

Tennis is lucky to have Nadal. On Friday, Thiem’s coach, Gunter Bresnik, called him the best competitor of all time in any sport. Off the court, Nadal never lacks in humility.

Sunday’s score might have looked rather routine, but there was some drama in the third set in sticky Paris when Nadal called for the trainer at 2-1, 30-0. It turned out to be for a cramp in a left finger that left him temporarily unable to serve with much pace.

Taking tablets later during a changeover, Nadal didn’t seem all that troubled and was able to complete the job on the court he owns, Philippe-Chatrier. Nor did a warning for taking too much time between points bother the left-hander.

When Thiem sent a return long on a fifth match point, Nadal raised his arms in celebration. Holding the trophy during the awards ceremony, he wept. Despite wracking up one title after another in Paris, it clearly still means plenty to the world No. 1. Nadal said last week that he wanted to keep playing for a while, and if his body co-operates, 15 seems like a realistic possibility.

Thiem was considered the stiffest test for Nadal at the French Open, and understandably so. The Austrian is one of only three players to down Nadal on clay at least three times — the world No. 8 was the last man to overcome Nadal on clay, last month in Madrid. But that’s the best-of-three sets and in different, faster conditions.

Over the best-of-five sets on clay in 13 years, Nadal improved to 111-2 — a figure almost as imposing as the nearby Eiffel Tower — his lone reverses coming against Robin Soderling in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in 2015 at the French Open.

“If you win a grand slam tournament 11 times, one single one, then this is just very exceptional and amazing,” said Thiem. “You need to have, I think, many extraordinary skills and talents and work ethics to achieve that.”

Thiem — competing in his first grand slam final after a pair of semifinal showings in Paris — needed to win the first set to have any realistic opportunity of ending Nadal’s reign. Why? Nadal was 95-0 when capturing the opener on clay in the best of five format.

Slow starts have plagued Nadal in several of his matches this fortnight, most notably against 11th seed Diego Schwartzman in the quarterfinals. He lost the first set — the only one he actually dropped — then turned things around following a rain delay. He was visited by the trainer that day, too, with Nadal saying it was to prevent sweat from traveling to his hand.

But against Thiem, there was nothing wrong with Nadal’s start. He won the first six points and broke for 2-0. His lead was reminiscent of their semifinal at the French Open last year, when Nadal also held the early advantage.

Unlike last year — when those first few games realistically settled matters — Thiem bounced back, breaking straight away.

The problem for the 24-year-old was that his serve wasn’t co-operating. Serving at less than 50 percent in the first, Nadal got plenty of looks at second serves. Overall, the tally was a mere 58 percent.

Thiem dug in — especially in the roughly 13-minute sixth game — but he crumbled attempting to stay in the set, making four unforced errors. “In general, it was — game wise — a good game. It was just terrible misses,” said Thiem. Perhaps inexperience.

In a 10-minute second game of the second set, Thiem suffered more trauma. He dropped serve on a fifth break chance. He, however, was able to hold serve regularly in the midway stages of the second and even had a chance to get back on serve, but his opening at 2-4 evaporated when Nadal struck a sublime drop shot, then passing shot.

Nadal faced only three break points in the two hour, 42 minute affair.

Thiem now needed to win three straight sets against Nadal on clay — and the lone person to do that was Djokovic in their 2015 quarterfinal. He courageously saved three break points to start the third, yet stumbled in his ensuing service game.

Seemingly cruising to victory, that’s when Nadal called for the trainer, the second time he did it at the French Open mid-game. On the other, against Paul Henri Mathieu in 2006, a piece of banana got stuck in his throat.

Nadal is one of the best frontrunners around and indeed there was no choke on the way. He continued to pummel his ground strokes to further inflict woe on Thiem. “When someone wins 11 times here, for me it’s unbelievable to think about this,” said uncle Toni.

Thiem, though, knows he isn’t the only player to have succumbed to Nadal at the French Open. And the way that Nadal is playing on the clay, he won’t be the last.</s>Rafael Nadal roared to French Open title number 11 with a straight-sets demolition of Dominic Thiem.

The Spaniard continued his extraordinary domination at Roland Garros with a ruthless 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory.

Seventh seed Thiem is the only player to have beaten Nadal on clay in the past two years, and he claimed he had a plan to thwart the Spaniard in Paris.

But once a competive first set went the way of the world number one, the plan became damage limitation and Nadal’s ‘undecima’ never looked in any doubt.

It was hard not to feel sympathy for Thiem, playing in his first grand slam final against a man who simply does not lose this particular battle.

If Thiem is, as he is widely regarded, the second best clay-court player in the world then he probably has a few more of these pummellings to look forward to at least until Nadal, 32, finally calls it a day.

Nadal’s incredible record in Paris now reads 86 wins and two defeats. He has won every final he has reached, and in those 11 finals he has dropped just six sets.

As if the task was not daunting enough for Thiem, the early signs were even more ominous. The Austrian won just one of the first nine points as Nadal immediately broke for 2-0.

But Thiem, unusually standing up to Nadal’s first serve, forced two break points in the next game and converted the second with a flashing forehand into the right corner.

It was the only blow he landed all afternoon. Thiem withstood a barrage of break points to hold in a marathon sixth game, which he thought he had won at 40-30 when he left a wide ball, only for the umpire to overrule the line judge.

But at 4-5 Thiem’s serve let him down badly, handing Nadal three set points. Any hopes of an upset all but disappeared along with the ragged Thiem forehand which sailed way beyond the baseline.

Thiem used to hike through the Alps in his homeland as part of his training, but the 24-year-old had an even bigger mountain to climb now.

The first set had taken 57 minutes, in stiflingly humid conditions, but there was to be no let-up for the underdog in the second.

He saved three break points in his first service game but a wayward backhand ensured Nadal took the fourth.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Austria’s Dominic Thiem during the men’s final match of the French Open. Photo: AP Photo/Christophe Ena

A hold to love showed Thiem had not given up the ghost, however unlikely a repeat of Simona Halep’s heroics from the same position a day earlier seemed.

He still occasionally inconvenienced the reigning champion, not least when a deft drop shot brought up a point to break back at 2-4.

That was swatted away with Nadal’s double-handed backhand, though, and the second set duly went the way of the favourite.

The only thing that could stop Nadal now was surely an injury. So there was mild concern when Nadal called for the trainer midway through a game, requiring treatment on what looked like cramp in his hand.

It made no difference; he could probably win this with one hand tied behind his back.

The punishment continued, with Thiem by now looking up to his coach and shrugging as another forehand whistled past him.

Two breaks later Nadal was in a familiar position, serving for the title, and when another Thiem forehand dropped long, his arms were raised in celebration, yet again.
In the men's singles final, Rafael Nadal defeats Dominic Thiem and wins his 11th title at Roland Garros.