Rafal Nadal v Dominic Thiem: French Open men's final: betting preview, tip & TV

ITV4 & Eurosport 1, 2pm Sunday

Rafael Nadal has sometimes struggled to beat Dominic Thiem but the Majorcan was a dominant winner when they met in the 2018 French Open final and he can repeat that performance 12 months later to retain his Roland Garros title.

Nadal made a disappointing start to the clay-court campaign but a victory in the Rome Masters served warning that he was back to his ominous best, and he has looked at the peak of his powers in Paris.

Only David Goffin has managed to win a set against the king of clay, who subsequently saw off Juan Ignacio Londero and Kei Nishikori to tee up a semi-final clash with his old rival Roger Federer.

Winds battered Roland Garros on Friday but Nadal stood firm on Court Philippe Chatrier as he saw off Federer in straight sets, battling back from a break down in the second to take control and claim a place in his 12th French Open final.

The 33-year-old has never been beaten in a Roland Garros final and has lost only two matches in his career at the venue. It's no surprise, therefore, to see him chalked up at no bigger than 2-9 having been 10-11 at the start of the tournament. Thiem is 4-1 from an ante-post 15-2.

Nadal is the best clay player in the world but it's clear that Thiem has claims to that title after his semi-final defeat of Novak Djokovic and he is likely to provide Nadal's sternest challenge of the Roland Garros fortnight.

Fatigue could well prove to be the major stumbling block for the Austrian after his match with Djokovic which lasted more than four hours and was completed 24 hours after it began due to a series of rain delays on Friday and Saturday.

While Thiem is one of the fittest players on the circuit, such delays can prove mentally draining. The 25-year-old was busy slogging it out with one of the sport's toughest competitor while his final opponent was able to relax and recover.

Thiem has arguably taken his game to another level this season, winning a first Masters 1000 hard-court title at Indian Wells and performing consistently well on clay, including defeating Nadal at the Barcelona Open, but he struggled physically to go toe-to-toe with the greatest clay-court player of all time in a best-of-five set contest.

That is not to say he can't win. Thiem has already beaten Nadal four times on clay and has been the biggest threat to his Paris crown over the last few years, but Roland Garros is Nadal's domain and it will take a fine performance if the young pretender is to overthrow him.

Thiem could come out swinging, however, and looks more than capable of winning a set - an outcome that is odds-on with bookmakers - and it may be the case that Thiem starts strongly before Nadal takes over.

Recommendation
R Nadal to win & both players to win a set
1pt 6-4 bet365, Sky Bet

Already advised
R Nadal to win French Open
5pts 10-11 May 26

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