Roger Federer has had a poor start to the 2008 season by his standards, though to any ordinary tennis player the few tournaments he has played have been successful.

He reached the semis in the first Grand Slam of year in Australia and turned in good performances in Indian Wells and Miami at Masters series events, showing his form was good although he had yet to win a title in 2008 - an unusual experience for the Swiss master.

The clay-court season in Europe started last week with tournaments in Valencia, Spain and Estoril, Portugal - both important events in seeing who has good early clay-court form in the run-up to the French Open.

'With the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and a whole host of other clay-court specialists, Federer will have to play at his very best to even reach the semi-finals in Paris'


In Valencia, the Spaniards reigned supreme and David Ferrer got the better of compatriot Nicolas Almagro in the final, the world No.5 showing his pedigree on this surface. In Estoril it was Federer who prevailed throughout the week, to many people's surprise. The top seed showed glimpses of quality in his matches but overall the tournament victory lacked any spark and Federer sometimes looked uncomfortable on the clay.

He played three-set matches against Oliver Rochus and came mightily close to defeat against lowly-ranked German Denis Gremelmayr in the semi-finals, hardly inspired stuff. In the final, Federer came up against Nikolay Davydenko and was lucky the Russian retired in the second set as I think Nikolay could have gone on to defeat the world No.1 after breaking Federer to lead 2-1 in the second set.

Federer hardly needs to show his supremacy in these smaller ATP tour events; however, everyone knows he is desperate to win the French Open before his career ends and the Swiss master needs to start showing his main rivals that he is confident on the red clay and playing well. Failure to do this will enable his opponents to feel confident in playing Roger and thinking they can win. 

The red clay can be a gruelling surface and I doubt that Federer will be able to sustain the quality of play on the surface to be able to ever win the only trophy missing from his  cabinet - the Roland Garros crown.

With the likes of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and a whole host of other clay-court specialists, Federer will have to play at his very best to even reach the semi-finals in Paris.

Players are not scared of the Swiss genius on clay; they think they have a chance of an upset and go into the match quietly confident, unlike when they are drawn against Roger on grass, where Federer seems to be indestructible!

Nadal looks to be the one to beat again in France; however, he has yet to play an actual match on clay this season. Let's wait and see how Rafael pays in Monte Carlo this week before we pass any judgement.

Other players such as Ferrer, David Nalbandian, Almagro even Britain's Andy Murray will fancy their chances at Roland Garros. Clay courts are often about long rallies and baseline play, something specialists can do all day long with ease.

Patience is the name of the game and I feel Federer will struggle against the very best clay court players. His season will start at the grass-court stage in mid-June, where Federer will look to be as dominant as ever. But as for Paris, it's 'Au revoir, Roger'.