Dominic Thiem is the iron man of men's tennis who is never happier than when his racquet is doing the talking. That is just as well as the 24-year-old Austrian, who faces Rafael Nadal for the French Open title on Sunday, is not a man for wearing his heart on his sleeve. When he held his first press conference after his opening Roland Garros win, the official transcript stretched to a modest 64 words in English in response to just one bland question. When 10-time French Open champion Nadal walked into the conference room 24 hours later, he spoke close to a 1,000 words in English. Such is Thiem's low profile that there were gasps when he criticised having to undergo mandatory national service in the Austrian military.

"It's a pain in the arse," complained Thiem in a rare headline-grabbing outburst. GQ magazine once carried a profile of the 6ft 1in (1.85m) Austrian with the headline: "Dominic Thiem is the future of tennis -- so why doesn't anybody care about him?" However, his private demeanour should not be confused with crippling modesty either on or off the court. He has a season-leading 35 wins having played 13 tournaments in 2018. By comparison, Nadal is in his seventh. Such is Thiem's dedication to his job that he even played -- and won -- a small-change claycourt tournament in Lyon the week before Roland Garros while his rivals were already in Paris. "There are always things to learn, you don't lose energy," Thiem once explained in defence of his gruelling schedule.