Thiem not discouraged by his two straight French Open final losses

Dominic Thiem plans to keep pursuing his goal of winning a Grand Slam, but says his French Open experience shows why it's so tough these days.

The Austrian fell 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to Rafael Nadal in the final, the second straight year he has been defeated by the Spaniard. Still, he is positive about his performance and his season, again getting up to a career No. 4 in the rankings.

“I had, until now, my best year for sure. I have won Indian Wells, Barcelona, finals again here," Thiem said. “Even though I didn't win the tournament, still, two years finals in a row, it's nice. I think that I developed my game. I was also closer than last year in the finals, I have the feeling, especially in the first two sets.

“So I'm on the right way. And I failed today, but my goal and my dream is still to win this tournament or to win a Grand Slam. Was not enough at the end, but I went very far.”

Before in the final, he defeated No. 1 Novak Djokovic in five sets in a semifinal that was played across two days because of weather delays, and also took down No. 9 Karen Khachanov and Frenchman Gael Monfils.

“That's a unique and also brutal thing, in our sport, in tennis, that I won six amazing matches. I beat one of the biggest legends of our game [Djokovic]. Not even 24 hours later, I have to step on court against another amazing legend of our game, against the best clay-court player of all time [Nadal],” Thiem said. “That also shows how difficult nowadays it is to win a Grand Slam. ”

All the Grand Slam champions on the men's tour are in their thirties, and Thiem, 25, is one of just two players under 30 to have reached even a Grand Slam final.

"It's tough right now because you have to beat seven good players to win this tournament," he told NBC. "And towards the end, you have to beat one or two legends with 15-plus Grand Slams.

“If you’re not 100 per cent in every department, you’re not going to make it.”

Thiem is next scheduled to play the ATP event at Halle.