Nadal's French Open rivals feel Spaniard could be on way to ninth clay-court title

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal's main rivals for the French Open crown feel that the Spanish tennis ace is not losing his grip on the title even though his critics feel that he might not be able to claim the title for a ninth time.

Nadal has reportedly been strangely subdued during the long buildup to the dedication of the clay-court tennis season having won just one title at Madrid when Japan's Kei Nishikori's back injury forced him to retire in the final.

Nadal reportedly suffered quarter final defeats to David Ferrer in Monte Carlo and Nicolas Almargo in Barcelona followed by his being swept aside in the second and third sets by Novak Djokovic in Rome last week.

However, French tennis hope Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said that it would be pure folly to downplay Nadal's hope of a record ninth title in Paris, Sport24 reported.

Tsonga said that if one looks at Nadal's results in the last couple of weeks, then one might say that he would lose, but when one looks in the past then there is no reason to say that Nadal is different than the other years.

Tsonga said that Nadal is the same guy, the same champion and he is sure that the Spaniard wants to win again in Roland Garros.