After Rafa Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s withdrawals, has Dominic Thiem’s major moment arrived?

"I think the ranking doesn't lie," said a nodding Dominic Thiem after his victory over fellow young star Alexander Zverev on Saturday. "So for sure I feel that I belong there in the top. But, yeah, still I'm kind of missing a really big result, big tournament. I hope it's gonna happen soon.”

The final sentiment Austria's future star decided to leave the tennis press with after his third-round press conference was almost identical to the words he spoke after his second-round success, and the pair of quotes managed to reveal all about the stage Thiem finds himself at in his career.

"I had some really good results this year, but still, somehow a very good result at a big tournament is missing. And, yeah, maybe when I make this one, then I can say maybe I made the breakthrough." he said on Thursday.

It's no surprise that Thiem is planted on the edge of his seat with a frienzied anticipation of the first big-time result of his career. In many ways, 2016 has been his year more than any other player beneath the dominance of Djokovic.

Since the start of 2016, Thiem skyrocketed to a career high ranking of 13 and the trophy he picked up in Nice a day before Roland Garros began marked a brilliant 6th title after cutting a titleless figure 53 weeks ago. Thiem's victory over Zverev was his 39th victory of the year - Novak Djokovic has 40.

Beyond the realm of stats and raw numbers, there is always something about watching a young player's errant and inconsistent game slowly click into place, and even more so in the case of Thiem. And despite comparisons between himself and reigning French Open champions Stan Wawrinka, there are clear differences. Thiem is a considerably more movement-based player while Wawrinka possesses a steadier flow of dominant power.

Between the violent, heavy backhands and the shared ability to use their legs and core strength alone as atomic sources of unlimited pace in their shots, there are other clear similarities between Thiem and Wawrinka and what it takes to control their power and the risk in their games. Like Wawrinka, the Austrian always seemed destined to develop as a slightly slower pace than the rest of his young peers.

As the likes of Nick Kyrgios, two years younger, also appear to be starting to figure out essential lessons at the top of the sport, 2016 has been the season that these have been slowly heeded by Thiem, too. The 22-year-old has cited his improved fitness as the main consequence of this change, and the difference has been unmistakeable. His increased speed and physicality has offered him such a steady and welcome base for his aggressive, heavy-topspin focused game to continue improving.

But the elephant in any room Thiem enters in Paris is clear. Despite breaking the top 10 and presenting unmistakeable progress that he hopes will culminate in Grand Slam victories down the line, Thiem is still yet to record a single significant victory at any big event. Before his quarter-final at Rome in the final Masters 1000 before Paris, the Austrian hadn't even scored more than 90 points - the equivalent of a slam third round and a Masters 1000 round of 16 - at any major or Masters 1000 over the previous 52 weeks.

It would appear that the moment has arrived. Initially, the battle of the future stars between Thiem and Zverev was supposed to present the winner with a chance of, at best, receiving the ultimate lesson against Rafael Nadal on clay in the fourth round. But with Nadal's withdrawal from the tournament, the mood of the entire second quarter of the men's draw shifted. Instead of a steep learning curve against Nadal, it became a match that would grant the winner endless opportunities.

The consequence of that shift in mentality was still clear to see from Thiem's side of the court. The match between the Austrian and German was an nervy, edgy affair from cover to cover. The Austrian never really produced his best tennis, constantly having to survive self-inflicted wounds throughout the match. He was irritable, he spent long moments seething to his support box, and he looked like a man who knew the weight of the opportunity before him.

After Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's retirement from his third-round match against Ernests Gulbis in the same section, the reality is even clearer. Now, only Marcel Granollers and David Goffin or Ernests Gulbis stand in Thiem's path to the semi-finals in Paris. In the past, some definitive breakthroughs from future superstars of the sport have been snatched with unexpected stratospheric victories over the very best.

Other breakthroughs, however, have been the consequence of luck and circumstances falling in their right way, and it is this scenario that has fallen into Thiem's lap at the most opportune moment. He has already proven himself worthy of being called a future star this year, but he now has a glimmering chance to do something about achieving it. The opportunity he has been itching for on the biggest stages of the sport has arrived, and whether he can take it will reveal a whole lot more about what the tennis world can expect at this stage and in future stages of his career.