There's no stopping Rafa's rule on clay

Yet the 21-year-old Mallorcan's dominance on the reddish dirt seems to remain as absolute as ever and there is no sign of it abating as the French Open looms into view.

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The World No 2 flew in to Rome on Monday for the Italian Open with yet another clay court trophy in his cabinet, the Barcelona Open. And unfortunately for the rest of the tennis world, the man he beat in the final was unable to provide any clues about how you prevent the Spaniard's dominance.

'I don't know what you have to do to beat him on clay — don't bother asking me,' said David Ferrer, the World No 5, only half-jokingly.

Nadal on clay is arguably the ultimate test in tennis, certainly equivalent to meeting Federer on a grass court.

A tussle with the Spaniard in the last 16 was one of the possibilities on offer for Andy Murray as he took on the Argentine Juan Martin del Potro at the Foro Italico in their rain-delayed first round match.

It could safely be assumed Nadal will make it that far as his record on clay so far this year is already 10-0 and the only threat appears to come from him getting tired.

That is what happened when he suffered his only defeat in this portion of the season last year, at the German Open in Hamburg when Federer finally got the better of Nadal on his favourite surface.

Twelve months ago, that event represented the fourth full week he had played in five, but this year he is playing four straight weeks before taking one off to prepare for Roland Garros.

Nadal is furious that his favourite clay events are being squeezed into a tighter time-frame in 2008 and you do wonder how it will affect him, even with his superhuman levels of stamina.

Last year his body basically gave out once Wimbledon was over, his knees and ankles particularly feeling the strain, and there is sure to be a price to pay for throwing so much effort at the first half of the season.

You could extrapolate that point to venture how much his current schedule will shorten his whole career, as there must be a longer-term toll.

But for now he continues with his extraordinary domination on clay, which has seen him win all but one of his 21 tournament finals played on the surface.

It is also worth pointing out that he is hardly a single-trick pony, and 32 match victories in all environments this year are the most of any player.