General / Editor / 26 April 2007 /

With the Monte Carlo title once again tucked under his belt and this week's Barcelona crown appearing to be within his grasp for the third time in a row, it is hard to single out anyone who can stop Rafael Nadal - certainly not on his favourite surface.

The 20-year-old Spaniard - the king of clay - looks to be unstoppable as the countdown to the French Open in Paris begins in earnest.

Nadal has the Hamburg and Rome Masters to tackle before he arrives in Paris, where he plans to celebrate his 21st birthday (in the second week at Roland Garros) in style by taking the title again.

He goes to Paris with a 14-0 win/loss record having won the title on his two appearances and who's to bet against him winning the title again.

Who are the baseline battlers though who can get close to him?

World number one Roger Federer has had to adapt his game to clay and, make no mistake, is improving. He overwhelmed Nadal 6-1 in the first set of last year's French Open final before the young matador took control.

Nadal emphasised his superiority again last weekend when he beat Federer in straight sets in the Monte Carlo final - winning in straight sets compared to their four-set final 12 months earlier. For good measure, Nadal also beat Federer 7-6 in a titanic fifth set in the Rome final last year and last weekend's win puts him 7-3 in head-to-head meetings.

The Swiss ace will spend the next month trying to bridge the gap, as he looks for the one Grand Slam title that has so far eluded him. He can cope on clay - as well as being runner-up in Rome last year he also won the Hamburg title in 2004 and 2005. As a comparison, last year his grass court record was 12-0, hard court 50-1, clay 12-2 and carpet 4-1.

One player who could disturb the normal order of things is Fernando Gonzalez, especially after his impressive displays on the way to the final of the Australian Open.

However, Melbourne appears to have taken it's toll on the Chilean ace and he has not been able to reproduce quite the same stunning form in tournaments since. Gonzalez, available at 8 in Betfair's 2007 Specials 'To Win A Grand Slam' market, has not been beyond the fourth round in Paris since 2002 but he is a better player five years on and had a 20-9 win-loss record on clay last year.

The Spanish contingent will inevitably feel at home on clay and Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer are two men who could have an impact in Paris.

World number 14 Ferrero was outplayed by Federer in Monte Carlo after a good run to the semi-finals and had to retire with a stomach illness after just three games of his match with Pablo Andujar in Barcelona. He compiled a mediocre 14-11 record on clay last year, but is a better player than that suggests.
One thing to bear in mind - he was French Open runner-up in 2002 and winner in 2003 so has what it takes. It makes him the only past winner in serious contention this time round, apart from Nadal, but is trading at 95 to claim the title this year.

Meanwhile, Ferrer is finding form after missing Barcelona with a shoulder injury and is ready to put the squeeze on the big boys. He beat American Paul Goldstein 6-0 6-0 on Wednesday in Barcelona and had an 18-8 record on clay last year. He was a quarter-finalist in Paris in 2005.

One man who really could revel in clay is Russian Nikolay Davydenko. The world number four is looking to become the first Russian finalist in Paris since Kafelnikov won in 1996. He reached the quarters last year and the semi's in 2005 and boasted a 27-9 record on clay in 2006.
The two young guns to watch are Serbia's new world number six Novak Djokovic and Britain's world number ten Andy Murray. Djokovic set himself up for a good early summer by winning the Miami title, after losing to Rafael Nadal in the Indian Wells final.
But he slipped up in Monte Carlo in losing to Ferrer in the last 16. He will be 20 just before the French Open begins and is another looking to celebrate in style after reaching the quarter-finals last year.

Djokovic has the edge over Murray having beaten him in straight sets in the semi-finals of both American legs of the Masters series to date.

Murray has proved himself a good all-court battler but a lot will depend on how well he has overcome the injury niggles (ankle and hip) that beset him in Miami and then the back problem which forced him to pull out of last week's tournament in Barcelona. The British ace will certainly want to do better than a first-round exit on his Paris debut last year.

Of course, the big danger to all of them is the Argentine comeback kid, Guillermo Canas, just ask Federer. Canas beat him in back-to back-events on the hard courts of Indian Wells and Miami - and only lost out to Djokovic in the Miami final.

Now he is on his favourite clay court surface and looking to improve on his 2005 best of a Paris quarter-final placing. In fact, that is his best Grand Slam achievement but his form so far this year suggests he can do better. Canas is currently third favourite (25) with Betfair punters ahead of Roland Garros.

If Canas can't do it then fellow Argentine David Nalbandian could be the man. The 25-year-old from Cordoba is the trickiest of players and was a semi-finalist in Paris last year and in 2004. But if you are looking for an outsider, Paris has a habit of seeing a surprise finalist come through, Canas could be just the man to deliver the goods.

The big question remains though - will he or anyone else have what it takes to stop Nadal? In six weeks we'll know the answer, with Nadal trading at 1.79 with Betfair to make it a hat-trick of French Open titles.

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