It's the Rafa and Serena show

Watching Rafael Nadal churn his way through the clay-court season over the past few weeks, it seems nothing much has changed since his French Open triumph a year ago despite a lengthy injury lay-off.

Titles in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, where he dropped only three sets in the process, mean the Spaniard is overwhelming favourite to lift the trophy for an eighth time at Roland Garros when play gets under way in Paris today.

Only world number one Novak Djokovic, who interrupted Nadal's clay-court sweep by beating him in Monte Carlo, looks capable of preventing him again, but the Serbian's confidence has taken a knock with early defeats in Madrid and Rome.

Roger Federer can be relied on to add his elegant brush strokes on the Parisian dust and Nadal's compatriot David Ferrer will strain every sinew to reach the latter stages, while young guns such as Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov and Poland's Jerzy Janowicz will be expected to make an impression.

All eyes though will be on the force of nature that is Nadal as he returns to a venue that is as familiar to him as his own backyard and where he appears invincible.

Yet, just a few weeks ago in Vina del Mar, next to the Pacific Ocean in Chile, Nadal's long-awaited comeback from a knee injury that sidelined him for more than six months ended in a final defeat by lowly ranked Argentine Horacio Zeballos. With his knee still hurting and his shots lacking their usual bite, some wondered whether Nadal was damaged goods, whether the aura he enjoyed on the red dust would ever return. How ridiculous that notion now sounds.