Nadal's victory on Sunday meant that all past six Grand Slam titles have been won by either Federer or himself.

Thiem failed to become the second Austrian player in history to win a Grand Slam title after the 1995 Roland Garros champion Thomas Muster, while having already posted his best result at Grand Slams with a final appearance in Paris and being destined to rise to No 7 on next week's world rankings.

"It was a special thing for me to play the first Slam finals. But on the other hand, I was pretty calm and I knew that I go into it like it would be any other match," said Thiem.

"I was really fighting and playing from the first to the last moment.

"I'm confident that this was not my last Grand Slam finals, and that's my biggest goal, to get into the next one and then to do it better than today," he added.

Earlier on Sunday, No 6 seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova, both of Czech Republic, lifted the women's doubles trophy after breezing past Japanese duo of Hozumi Eri and Ninomiya Makoto 6-3, 6-3.