• Chris Wilkinson

It's all about the King of Clay

A welcome sight © Getty Images

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With the French Open kicking off in a week's time, it is good to see the rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal reignited.

It was the first time in 12 months that the pair had played, and given what has gone on in the past few weeks it sets up a thrilling few weeks. Nadal is back to his dominant best after becoming the first man to win three clay-court Masters events back-to-back, with players struggling to even take a set off of him.

The upshot of it is that Nadal will now be seeded second at the French Open, so Federer and Nadal will be on opposite sides of the draw. From Federer's point of view this is good news, because it means his chances of reaching the final are that much greater.

I think it will certainly be Nadal in the final, but for Federer there's no guarantee. He still seems to be struggling but he has got better. I saw his match in Rome where he lost in the second round to Ernests Gulbis, and he didn't play at all well, but in Madrid last week I covered some of his matches and he started playing like we expect him to - but he still needs to make some major improvements with his game.

He just hasn't got enough matches under his belt. He lost early in Rome and didn't make the final in Estoril. He has been lacking confidence which is a strange thing to say for a world No. 1, but a good run of matches in Madrid will have been good for him.

I don't think he will be too worried about the prospect of losing his No. 1 status to Nadal, as long as he breaks Sampras' record. Providing Federer can stay top of the rankings for another four weeks he will overtake Sampras as the all-time leader, having held the No. 1 spot for a record 287 weeks.

Nadal won both the French and Wimbledon two years ago; Federer claimed both titles this year. I think they will share the spoils this time around. It's hard to see past Nadal at Roland Garros, but I think Federer has more chance to win Wimbledon this year. I think he might struggle in Paris, but I'm confident he will come good just in time for the grass-court season.

Andy Murray appeared to rediscovered the winning formula in Madrid © Getty Images

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The Spanish dominance
Andy Murray played much better on clay last week and he'll be pleased with his progress but he was always going to come undone against a really strong clay-court player like David Ferrer.

Realistically I think reaching the quarter-finals will be a good result for Murray at Roland Garros, but so much depends on the draw. Last year he lost to Fernando Gonzalez in the last-eight. Murray will be there or thereabouts because he's too good a player not to be, but when it gets to the real deep end of the tournament there are other players who are capable of that little bit more on clay.

If it's not to be Nadal's year, you're still looking at the Spanish players, who have dominated on clay this year. Fernando Verdasco, Nicolas Almagro and Ferrer are all in good form and clay-court wizard Ferrer could be an outsider for the title. Ernests Gulbis is in good form too.

Robin Soderling doesn't look like he will be repeating his French Open heroics after beating Nadal and reaching the final last year. He's struggling with form and with Juan Martin del Potro and Nikolay Davydenko both still injured it's really just the top four and the Spanish who have any chance of reaching the last four. Novak Djokovic is prone to inconsistency and Murray is only just rediscovering his form, but you expect them to at least reach the quarter-finals.

Wide Open
In the women's it is impossible to pick a clear favourite - it is so wide open. None of the top players are playing that well at the moment; Serena and Venus are both struggling. I think anyone in the top 20 could probably win it. Kim Clijsters isn't going to be fit in time so Justine Henin could be the favourite. You would expect the likes of Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova to be challenging but they haven't been winning matches of late.

Aravane Rezai could be one to watch after her surprise victory in Madrid. Jelena Jankovic and Sam Stosur both seem to be playing well and have hit a run of form, but it is difficult to pick a winner.

If you compare the women's game to the men, you want to watch Nadal take on Federer in the final because they are wonderful players to watch and you want to see the best two players in the world. But there no equivalent rivalry in the women's game at the moment. There are two ways of looking at it - in one sense it is really exciting because it is so wide open and you don't know who is going to win, but at the same time if you are not seeing the best players in the final of a Grand Slam, it is a bit disappointing.

From a British point of view we have got four players in action in Paris: Murray, Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong and Katie O'Brien. It's great news as we do not normally get that many players in the main draw at the French. I can't see any of the three women making it past their first-round matches, but it all depends on the draw.

As a surface if you are brought up playing on clay it is a massive advantage but it is hard for others to adapt. Even Murray still doesn't move that well on clay, not compared to Nadal and the other Spanish players.

Chris Wilkinson is a former British No. 1

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