Could this be Roger's honeymoon in Paris, finally?

This has been a strange year for Roger Federer, by his standards, to say the least, and by the expectations of his millions of fans. It began with yet another defeat at the hands of his arch-nemesis, Rafael Nadal. For the last four years running, Fedex has slowly, and by his own admission, painfully, started to come to terms with the outcome inevitable with a match against the Spanish one-man Armada. The battlefields kept relocating, the texture of the courts kept changing their colour, but the results never varied, with the odd reversals here and there. The Spanish juggernaut just kept rolling, expanding his empire beyond the clay kingdom of Rolland Garros, to finally stamping his authority on the Centre Court of the holy grail of tennis, Wimbledon; a result that must have put a dagger through Federer's heart. It was his backyard after all, a place where he could win day-in & day-out, sleepwalk through matches without maybe even dropping a set, perhaps even blindfolded. But in Wimbledon 2008, Nadal changed all that perception, and hit Federer where it hurt the most, in his mental framework. Federer now almost has a mental block whenever he gets down to face Nadal. What else could be the possible explanation behind the string of defeats in various courts and tournaments all over the world, including the recent Australian Open, which caused the ice-man of tennis to break down at the presentation ceremony? To add to it, he also lost to all sorts of random players in the run-up to the French Open. So much so that, his victory at the Madrid Open Final against his nemesis did not cause as much jubilation as surprise amongst the fraternity.
Which brings one to the clay court of Paris, where Nadal has ruled over the last four years, annihilating Federer in the most recent final last year. But the clay-court wizard was nowhere near his best against Robin Soderling, an also-ran in the tournaments till now, but now a national hero in his home country Sweden. The outcome propelled the clay court legend and Soderling's compatriot, Bjorn Borg to claim that he could even win the French Open this time round. One wouldn't have the audacity to call that high hopes, but would Federer let the opportunity, which destiny gift-wrapped and home-delivered to his doorstep, go past him? The fourth round match against Tommy Haas, and the semi-final against the gifted Argentine Del Potro, seem to indicate some thing else. Roger repeatedly came back from the brink in those two matches, and the final set in the semi-final brought back memories of that ruthless streak that we all have come to love over the years. Otherwise, it has more-or-less been a patchy tournament for the master. But perhaps, Federer realizes more than anybody else on this planet, that this is the moment for him to seize, which could propel him to all-time greatness, although he is one already. But winning this elusive French Open would help him attain the Tennis Grand Slam, draw himself level to Sampras' booty of 14 slams, and elevate him over the US tennis machine, as Sampras never went past the fourth round of the French, let alone win it.
Could Roger Federer bury his clay-court demons in the Philippe Chatrier Court this time round? Or would the demons devour him once again, this time in the form of a Swede, rather than a Spanish? We're keeping our fingers crossed.