It’s the clash of the titans once more,  this time around on the clay of Roland Garros. With the acknowledged emperor of modern tennis, Roger Federer, taking on the ruling champion of clay, the Spanish armada Rafael Nadal, the tournament already has the makings of a breathtaking contest.

On the one hand we have Federer who is on the top spot for a record number of successive weeks, to be specific 161, beating American legend Jimmy Connors record spanning 160 weeks. This run includes victories at all grand slams apart from the French Open, the one that escaped the great Pete Sampras too. Already heralded as the greatest tennis player by many, Federer is truly in a class of his own.

Nadal, a true potential candidate to blemish Federer’s party at Roland Garros, is looking as lethal as ever on clay. Having said the, he was finally beaten by Federer at the Hamburg Masters earlier this year. Thus came to an abrupt end his unbeaten stint on clay, which he would have liked to continue even after this year’s French Open. He did rule unbeaten for a incredible 81 weeks.

Nadal plays with such an aggression and belligerence that many a time his opponents might feel he has the game in his grasp only to have it pulled away by a spot of Nadal brilliance. This attitude of never say never is what makes true champions and Nadal has shown this for years, and he is still only 20. With many years to come he can in fact be regarded as a potential trend-setter in world tennis,

Now let’s talk about the other serious challengers who might challenge these two. Among these I would rate Nicolay Davidenko, Fernando Gonzalez and Ivan Ljubicic as potential candidates. The young Serb, Novak Djokovic, has shown tremendous progress this year, and could spring a surprise or two. The young brigade of Mario Ancic and Andy Murray don’t look like posing a serious challenge. Andy Roddick also struggles on clay and would not stand any chance against the clay specialists. The other experienced campaigners include the likes of Marat Safin, David Nalbandian and Tommy Robredo.

The first two days were stained by rain and severe cold waves. Federer had an easy time against the American opponent Michael Russel. With two weeks of frenzied action, it’s a delicacy for all tennis aficionados. My money is again on Nadal to complete a Roland Garros hat-trick.