TENNIS/French Open : Johnny Wattersonon why the world number one can look forward with confidence to Paris, where victory would be his ultimate crowning

It seems now every time Roger Federer walks on to a tennis court the occasion is loaded with the possibility of him shaping the ages. History has become his biggest opponent. Federer doesn't just win matches and tournaments any more; he has evolved into a player who sees his place as building bigger and better monuments to his talent.

"(Winning) the French might put me in another atmosphere in terms of being a legend, because nowadays people want you to win all four - otherwise you've not quite done it," he said last week without a hint of irony but with a sharp sense of what people expect. His task now, in his own mind as much as in the minds of those eagerly watching, is to tread virgin ground and create benchmarks far beyond the scope of most players.

The 25-year-old's most recent arrest of the charging bull Rafael Nadal in Hamburg was perhaps a modest-enough feat in the context of his long list, but over the next two weeks it may prove to be the match that gave him a glimpse of the grail he has been chasing since winning the first of his 10 Grand Slams, at Wimbledon in 2003. That is to hold all four at the same time and in the same year. Twice he has been just one short and that one has been Roland Garros.

In that context, stopping his clay-court nemesis, Nadal, from claiming his 82nd successive match on the surface a week before Roland Garros will have elevated the expectation levels of the Swiss world number one from somewhere in the dirt back up into the stratosphere, where it has normally been these past four years.

The win, greeted with a penetrating shriek from the player after match point, marked an end to what was one of his most frustrating periods in recent years and will have helped him shake off any fears that may have taken hold these past few weeks.

Federer was clearly shocked with his pre-Hamburg form and to no small extent confused by the lack of quality in his game on the run-in to Germany, the nadir arriving when he lost in straight sets in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia to the 53rd-ranked Filippo Volandri.

That marked the end of a losing streak that began after he won in Dubai earlier this year. At Indian Wells he lost in the second round to Guillermo Canas after receiving a first-round bye. In Miami he lost in the fourth round, once more to Canas, again after a first-round bye. On the clay at Monte Carlo he lost in the final to Nadal before travelling to Rome, where Volandri bagged him in the third round.

The Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open champion then arrived in Hamburg with his Roland Garros preparations in disarray, and by his lofty standards he was going through a serious drought.

While most players are lucky to win four tournaments in any year, Federer's recent journey was freighted not only with the knowledge he was in the middle of his worst spell since he became world number one in February 2004 but also with confusion as to what he should do about it. The first thing he did was sack his coach. The subsequent victory in Hamburg may have turned his year around.

"I got him (Nadal), which is great for myself - it's absolutely a breakthrough," Federer told reporters after coming from a set down to beat the 20-year-old 6-0 in the third set. It will be interesting to see how we both react to it in the French Open," he added. "For me it's just nice to be playing well again. It's not that I was playing so badly but it's my first clay-court title in a couple of years so that's great. I'm feeling very good going into the French Open and I'm excited it's coming around now."

The month showed Federer to be exactly what he is. The slump was unacceptable and he reacted as he had done once before by abruptly severing his ties with the very person, Tony Roche, a former French Open champion, under whose guidance he had won six of his 10 Grand Slam crowns. Roche had been sought out specifically to help Federer conquer his shortcomings on clay, and so many questioned the wisdom of terminating his relationship with the Australian a fortnight before the season's second and most difficult Grand Slam.

But it was not the first time Federer had shown a ruthless streak and a sense of certainty that he above everyone else understands his game and instinctively knows what makes it tick. While his mastery of five languages, easy-going off-court nature and urbanity have endeared him to just about everyone, his winning approach entails embracing the more brutal aspects of being world number one.

The calculating and decisive Federer last emerged when he sacked his then coach, Peter Lundgren, in late 2003 despite having just won the Tennis Masters Cup and moved to within striking distance of the world-number-one spot, which he has now occupied for 172 weeks.

If he wins in Paris, not only will it be his 11th Grand Slam but Federer will become the first player since the Australian Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time and only the third man, after the American Don Budge and Laver, to do so. Most recently, his Australian Open title win in January was so emphatic he swept through the seven rounds without dropping a set, the first player to do so in 27 years.

The last player to win all four titles was André Agassi but even the great American took almost a decade to accumulate them (Wimbledon 1992, US Open 1994, Australian Open 1995 and French Open 1999). For two years in succession Federer has held three titles, the French continuing to be, as a number of great players have found to their cost, the most elusive.

John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and, most recently Pete Sampras, all tried repeatedly in Paris but failed. Some came so close they openly admit the memory still haunts them. McEnroe is one. He went two sets up against Ivan Lendl in 1984 but lost over five in the only Roland Garros final he played.

Sampras, who won 14 Grand Slams, never got beyond the semi-final on the slow clay.

Two weeks after Paris, Sampras would arrive at London with unwavering confidence and win the biggest of them all. In 2000 he took his seventh Wimbledon title, when he beat Pat Rafter, but Paris remained beyond his reach.

The assumption is Federer felt he gave Roche enough time, and while the Australian tried to dramatically change the way his pupil played, it was clear Federer was uncomfortable and not adapting well to the style, which took him out of his comfort zone. In the end, the changes caused his timing to critically misfire. For the normally majestic champion's timing to go off, there had to be a serious problem. It was the death knell for the coach.

Renewed then after one tournament, Federer is now in ominous mood.

"Matches against Rafael help me . . . I've improved a lot by playing against him. The more I play him, the more I'll figure out his game and the easier it's going to get for me," said Federer. After his defeat by the Spaniard in last year's French Open final, he masked his disappointment with a prophetic appraisal: "I got to the semi-finals in 2005, and this year I made the final, so I'm getting better. I see things positively."

This year his argument will stand or fall and only a win would mark an improvement. If he can do that and do it with more than just Nadal in his path - Nikolay Davydenko, Ivan Ljubicic, David Nalbandian, Lleyton Hewitt and several other South Americans come into orbit in Europe for the French tournament - would further enhance the Federer aura.

It would also mean his imprint on the game would be permanently fixed. It would elevate him to a level alongside icons of other sports such as Pele, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

If he cannot do it, it is still likely he will still outstrip Sampras's record number of Grand Slam wins. The lack of a French Open title would be a blot on Federer's record book, one that is nonetheless already one of the most desirable in the history of the game.

Federer is already a superstar. His solo run promises even more.

Federer statistics 2007

Australian Open (won)

Dubai (won)

Indian Wells (lost 4th rnd)

Monte Carlo (lost final v Nadal)

Rome (lost 3rd rnd)

Hamburg (won v Nadal)

2007 match win-loss 24-4

2007 prize money 1,466,567

Roland Garros record

1999 (lost first round)

2000 (lost round of 16)

2001 (quarter-final)

2002 (lost first round)

2003 (lost first round)

2004 (lost round of 32)

2005 (semi-final, lost to Nadal)

2006 (final, lost Nadal)

Grand Slam wins: 10

Three Australian Opens; four Wimbledons

three US Opens