Dominic Thiem: Winning French Open is my lifetime dream

In an interview before leaving for Paris, Dominic Thiem commented on his expectations for the French Open.

The 25-year-old is a defending finalist having lost last year's championship final to Rafael Nadal.

The Austrian said: "I am fit for the marathon five-set matches.

The French Open title is my lifetime dream, I will give it all." Thiem's coach Nicolas Massu added: "Dominic has played very well this year on clay and he has trained hard.

He is in good shape all round."

In an interview to the French Open YouTube Channel, Thiem recalled his beginnings in the sport:

"My parents are both tennis coaches so they always took me with them to the tennis court and of course I was really young then.

I wanted to move and everything so I just took a little racket and started to play and that's how I came to the sport and that's how it was until I became maybe seven or eight years old.

My father later on began to work at Gupta Academy when I was 9 or 10, he sometimes brought to the Academy and Gunter played with me in the lunch breaks.

This became a routine more and more and I think at 11 or 12 I finally became better than him. From the age of 12 my game really began to make strong progress.

He educated me in my game style to develop me to the player I am now. He put in the work, stuck with me through some very some tough times and always believed in me.

He developed my mindset from a very defensive player to the aggressive player I am today."

Thiem played his last tournament in Rome losing to the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in a three-set match.