Nadal relaxed as he plays for Paris history (French Open diary)

PARIS - No one has to tell Rafael Nadal that he’s playing for history as he targets a record fifth consecutive French Open title.

But the Spaniard cannot be worried by the weight of the record books and has come to Paris ready to just concentrate on his tennis in a special ambience.

“It’s happy to be here, it’s always a pleasure be in this very nice city. Coming back to Roland Garros is a special sensation,” Nadal said.

The champion would be the first to win five trophies in a row. The 22-year-old is the first man since Mats Wilander in 1982, to win Roland Garros on his debut, back in 2005.

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Federer always finds his comfort zone in Paris

Multi-lingual Roger Federer is totally in his element during the French Open as the number two makes another run at the Roland Garros title which has been denied to him by Rafael Nadal three times.

Speaking the language makes all the difference for the Swiss, who is fluent in four tongues.

“I felt like it’s hard to get around sometimes in Madrid, for instance, where I don’t speak the language,” Federer said.

“I don’t go to many countries where I don’t speak the language. And if not, then they do speak quite good English. Spain is a bit more difficult because Spanish is a such a big language in the world. It made it a bit harder.”

But Federer overcame that minor problem as he beat Nadal on clay for the first time in two years to win the Madrid title and come to Paris with a lift in his game.

The 13-time Grand Slam champion has been preparing lightly for his opening match against Brazilian qualifier Marcos Daniel, not over-working at the start of the fortnight.

“At this stage, it’s just about, you know, pacing myself, and doing the right things,” said the Swiss.