Federer to employ aggressive tactics for French Open and beyond

The world number one's clay-court game has improved over the last two years but Nadal still holds the Indian sign over the Swiss star.

Thoughtful: Top-seed Roger Federer ponders his tactics at Roland Garros.

The Spaniard has beaten Federer eight out of nine times on the dirt, two of them coming in Masters Series finals in Monte Carlo and Hamburg during the past month.

Federer has tended to go for his shots more than Nadal in recent meetings between the pair - that was especially the case in his three-set loss in Hamburg last weekend - and his error count is therefore higher.

But ahead of an event reigning three-time champion Nadal has made his own, Federer insists that is the only way to defeat the Mallorcan king of clay.

"When we play each other now, it's different to two years ago because at that time we hadn't played each other very often," he said. 

"Now we have played at least 16 times against each other, we know our games very well and we've had many tough and tight matches. 

"I have been able to beat him on clay. I know I can beat him if I can play against him on a good day for me. 

"I'm the one playing aggressive, I'm the one trying hard. I'm the one taking risks in these matches so I think I have a positive chance of winning here.  

"Two years ago I was more pessimistic because I saw Rafa was completely dominating the game on clay. But now I think I am really close and I believe I have good tactics.  

"I showed that in Monte Carlo and Hamburg. Just one point here and there makes the difference."  

Federer is approaching what he labels "the important stretch of the season", with the French Open, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the US Open all taking place in the next three and a half months. 

He has only won one tournament in 2008, a clay-court event in Estoril from which Nadal was absent, but insists he has been happy with his progress this year.

"Whatever has happened until now, I'm just happy I have enough matches in my legs," the 12-time grand slam winner added.  

"I feel very positive about these upcoming tournaments, these are the ones I really wanted to get ready for. 

"I wish I could have won maybe a tournament more here or there but if I keep on winning the next few, I don't really care what happened in the past.  

"I'm happy with the season so far. People might think it has been average but I don't, I think it's been better than average. 

"I'm looking forward to these next few months." 

The French Open is the only grand slam event Federer does not have in his collection.

He has turned to a new coach, Jose Higueras, over the past few weeks but the Swiss admits there has not been enough time to make any changes to his technique. 

And Nadal is not expecting anything new from Federer at this year's Roland Garros.

 "In my opinion, it's very difficult to change the style of probably the best player in history in three or four weeks," said the second seed.

"So I don't know if he can do it. If you change coach, I believe it takes a long time to implement a change, not just two or three weeks. It's impossible."  

Third seed Novak Djokovic looks to be the only other player capable of ending Nadal's unbeaten run on the Parisian clay.  

The Serbian, who won the Australian Open earlier this year, is slowly closing in on the top two in the world but admits Nadal is on another planet when it comes to the clay.

If, as expected, he meets the 21-year-old at the semi-final stage like last year, Djokovic claims he will adopt a different approach to Federer.

"He (Nadal) is very superior on this surface," he said.  "His main advantage here is his physical strength, his power and his ability to get all the balls back. 

"You have to change a bit and just stay with him all the time, because besides his physical strength, he's very strong mentally. 

"He plays every point like it's match point. 

"There's a long way to go but if I play him, I will try to be patient."