You would be excused for thinking that this year’s Men’s French Open only had two nominations, Roger Federer (the defending champion) and Rafael Nadal (the clay court king). Online bookmakers have opened with Rafael Nadal odds on favourite at almost 1/2, Federer’s second elect at 4/1 and daylight third – at least Novak Djokovic is officially third at 25/1 so it may as well be daylight.

Bookmakers are offering 50/1 for any other player to win – you don’t need to name the player, you win if someone outside those three wins the title. I wonder if Andy Murray can take his Madrid form into this Grand Slam event and provide us with a nice 50/1 payout?

On form, Nadal is back to his brilliant best and on clay, he can be unplayable. He is also prone to injury and after a tough campaign in Madrid, you are also betting on his fitness for the next two weeks. Federer got through last year after Nadal withdrew due to injury.

Federer himself has been injury prone of the last two years. He is no certainty to finish the tournament either. While Djokovic is sound when it comes to fitness, he has never really taken that extra step to champion status. Sure, he won the Australian Open, but that was against a fairly lackluster group.

While it’s hard to see anyone beating those three, keep your eyes on Murray, Robin Soderling, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Roddick and Gael Monfils – they are all capable of springing surprise wins against the top three. We are in for an interesting two weeks – who will prevail, Federer or Nadal, or can someone come from the pack and surprise us all? Our early prediction – Nadal to win yet again with Monfils the local hero as the outsider.