Rafael Nadal, 2017 French Open
Tennis - ATP - Rome Open - Dominic Thiem of Austria v Rafael Nadal of Spain - Rome, Italy - 19/5/17 - Nadal leaves at the end of the match. Reuters / Alessandro Bianchi

Rafael Nadal's 17-game winning streak this clay-court season was broken by Austrian Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open on Friday. Nadal will now rest for a few days before shifting his focus to the 2017 French Open for the opportunity to become the first player in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam on ten occasions.

After his exit from the Italian Open, Nadal praised his young opponent before revealing his plans for the next week. "Tomorrow I'll be in Mallorca fishing or playing golf, or another thing. I'm going to rest a little bit, I think I deserve it. Then from Monday and Tuesday I will start to prepare for Roland Garros. It's an important event for me. If you do things well, you have more chances in Roland Garros. I hope to play my best tennis in Roland Garros," the 14-time Grand Slam champion said.

It has been a highly successful clay-court season for Nadal, who entered Rome after winning three consecutive titles at Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. After missing most of 2016 with an injury, the Spaniard is playing sublime tennis. Odds makers expect him to prevail at Roland Garros and win Grand Slam No. 15. Novak Djokovic, the reigning French Open champion and Nadal's biggest obstacle, will resume his Italian Open semi-final fixture against Juan Martin del Potro on Saturday after a rain interruption the day before.

Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem: A budding clay-court rivalry

Thiem got the better of Nadal on Friday after falling to the veteran Spaniard in Barcelona and most recently the finals at the Madrid Masters. Nadal predicts a bright future for the 23-year-old Austrian. "He played very aggressive, hitting the ball very strong. The court here is probably the smaller on all the centre courts on clay, so that makes the players who play with bigger serve and hitting the ball strong, you know, is a little bit more easier for them to see the option to hit winners.

"So he did it. He played very long. He didn't miss a lot. Played high intensity. In general I was not able to push him back. He had the control of the points much more times than me. That's the key of this game," said the 30-year-old Nadal, via Yahoo Sports.

The 2017 French Open runs through May 22 and June 11. Nadal's first-round match will happen at the final week of May. The draw for this year's Roland Garros will be announced on Sunday.