All of Nadal's fans must be heaving a big sigh of relief now that their man or at least the champion they knew of yore, looks like he's back.
After two lacklustre years of painfully watching him go through Roland Garros (I deliberately missed watching his matches), the gates of opportunity has opened for him once again - as if he's needed it - and his performance this clay season points to a possible 10th French Open title.
And his draw this year can certainly aid him. His first round match though is a test case of how ready he is - Benoit Paire of France is a highly respected player, and although his ranking has dipped this year, a chance to play Nadal is always a good opportunity to gauge where his game is as of the moment.
Nadal's other possible opponents as he goes deeper into the tournament may include Gilles Simon, Jack Sock and Milos Raonic, all very capable players, but not known to be clay court specialists, so it was easy for me to pick Rafa to get to the semifinal slot of his side of the draw.
Can he go all the way? On paper, Novak looms in the SFs and Murray for the title match, both very good match-ups, but in clay, with Rafa in form, the odds have often tilted towards his direction.
If this does pan out, tennis fans are in for another nostalgic grand slam moment reminiscent of Federer's win in the Australian Open earlier this year.
We can't let go of them, just yet.
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