Paris: Rafael Nadal is hoping that a few pars and birdies on the golf course might help him combat the growing menace to his world crown that represents Novak Djokovic.
The Spaniard sensationally lost to the Serb in the finals of the Madrid and Rome Masters, two key claycourt tournaments in the build-up to Roland Garros.
Suddenly, from being the outstanding favourite to add a sixth French Open crown to his collection, Nadal, as he freely admits himself, is the underdog.
He is also facing the possibility of losing his world number one spot to Djokovic who only needs to reach the final to achieve that milestone in his career.
But there has been no sense of panic from Nadal who headed home after his defeat in Rome to the Mediterranean island of Mallorca to take it easy catching up with friends and family and indulging in his new-found passion for golf.
"When you lose, you have to try and find a solution. You have to try and find different things," he said.
"Is like football no? For example Real Madrid lost 5-0 gainst Barcelona in the league and then they go to the next match and that one they play different tactically.
"In football it's easier to make big changes because you have 11 people. In the tennis ... it is much more difficult to make big changes. But always you can adjust a few things."
First things first
Nadal said he was already concentrating fully on his opening opponent — towering American John Isner who he described as being "one of these players that you prefer not to have in the first round". If he gets through that he could be heading for another matchup, in the last eight, with big Swede Robin Soderling who remains the only player to have beaten him at Roland Garros.
Djokovic's route to a maiden title at Roland Garros and the world number one ranking could be a hazardous one following yesterday's draw where he was placed in the same half of the draw for the second Grand Slam event of the season as Roger Federer.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova's victory in Rome last week has marked her out as a serious title contender but the Russian former world number one says Kim Clijsters is the player to beat. Belgian Clijsters was a major doubt for the tournament after injuring her ankle two months ago but has recovered in the nick of time.
