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Nadal, who has a 79-2 win-loss record on the
Parisian clay, enters his title defense after a stellar season
on his favorite surface.
He won at Monte Carlo and Barcelona, claimed a record 50
consecutive sets, then bounced back from defeat in Madrid to
take the title in Rome.
His last defeat at Roland Garros came in 2015 when he lost to
Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.
While upset by Dominic Thiem in Madrid earlier this month, he
will be harder to beat in the best-of-five sets.
"Nadal is always the favorite, then I come behind with four or
five other players," said Thiem, who ended Nadal's 50-set
winning streak.
The 24-year-old Austrian is the only player to beat Nadal on
clay in the last two years but he was thrashed in straight sets
by the Spaniard in last year's French Open semi-finals.
Still, Henri Leconte, the 1988 runner-up, feels Nadal could be
vulnerable.
"For the moment Dominic Thiem beat him in Madrid but still Rafa
is the number one," he told Reuters.
"But there's still an opportunity for someone to beat him at the
French. It's difficult because it's five sets. I don't know why
but there could be an opportunity. He is the best player of all
time on clay."
If Thiem cannot deliver, the 21-year-old Alexander Zverev might
be the man in the absence of Roger Federer, who is skipping the
claycourt season.
"(Zverev) is way more mature now in the last two or three
months, even since Australia," three-times French Open champion
Mats Wilander told Reuters.
"He is more certain of how he needs to play.”
Zverev lost to Nadal in the Rome final but showed the full
potential of his game when he took the second set 6-1 before
fading away.
"Nadal doesn't really have a weakness," added Wilander.
"The only thing is that the next generation, the 19-23
year-olds, they don't have the fear factor against him like the
likes of Nishikori, Dimitrov, Raonic have.
"They have less baggage. Zverev, his game-plan against Nadal is
pretty clear.
"He has the kind of game-plan that Soderling and Djokovic had
when they beat Rafa at the French, which is, don't stay away
from his forehand but hit hard on his forehand to open up the
backhand side."
Although ranked outside the top 20, the 2016 champion Djokovic
will also be closely watched, having shown signs that he is
emerging from the toughest spell of his career.
The 12-times grand slam champion was beaten 7-6(4) 6-3 by Nadal
at the Rome semi-finals but produced a level of tennis that
should leave potential opponents in the draw nervous.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ian Ransom)
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