US Open champion Dominic Thiem set himself the goal to win the French Open, and the Austrian says he would like to overthrow the “mud king” Rafa Nadal.

Nadal’s dominance on the red clay courts in Paris is unparalleled. The Spaniard won the Roland Garros No. 13 Cup last year, with Roger Federer winning 20 singles titles in the Grand Slams.

Two of those 13 main court victories went to Austrian Thiem, who won his first Grand Slam titles at Flushing Meadows last year.

“For me, this is the best performance tournament in the past by far. After winning my first Grand Slam title, this is now the biggest goal I really want to achieve,” Tim said at the Laureus Sports Awards.

“I like to set more short-term goals, but winning the French Open is a big deal … It’s actually a career goal. It’s also my biggest goal this year.

Tim said controlling Nadal at Roland Garros would be a big task.

“I think he was 34 years old last year and probably played one of the best tournaments ever.” Said the 27-year-old nominee for the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year award for 2020.

A big Chelsea fan

“One of the biggest challenges in sports will be defeating this guy on the main court. So I would like to do it while he’s still active.”

Outside of tennis, Tim said he was a huge fan of the Premier League team, Chelsea, and was “very upset” when Frank Lampard was fired from his coaching job in January.

“I have, I don’t know, 50 shirts with his name on it, so I was very happy when he was hired,” Tim said, hoping Lampard would return to Stamford Bridge one day.

“It was a wonderful and magical relationship between him and the club. Obviously, I was very sad when he left.”

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