Tennis news: Rafael Nadal thinks Andy Murray will challenge him for French Open title

Rafael Nadal has dominated all clay court tournaments so far this season, winning the Monte Carlo Masters, Barcelona Open and Madrid Open, and he could be on his way to add a fourth straight title to his name in the ongoing Italian Open. The Spaniard has been in such exceptional form that a lot of tennis fans and pundits around the world expect him to win his 10th French Open title too.

With Roger Federer not taking part in any of the clay court tournaments this year, including the French Open, and with former world no.1 Novak Djokovic and current world no.1 Andy Murray both struggling for form, Nadal could in fact claim his 10th title in Paris.

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However, despite Murray's poor form that saw him win only one tournament in 2017 and reach two finals and a semi-final, Nadal believes that he will be ready for French Open. That's a pretty bold statement from Nadal considering the fact that Murray's best performance in clay so far in four tournaments has seen him reach just one semi-final at Barcelona.

The Scot had lost in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open and suffered a first round exit at the Italian Open where he lost against Fabio Fognini. After that loss at the Italian Open, Murray himself expressed his concern about his form, but Nadal still feels that he will challenge for the title at French Open.

"He's a great player, unbelievable player. He will be ready for Roland Garros. He has one week-and-a-half to practise, and he will be one of the candidates for the title," Eurosport quoted Nadal as saying.

Murray became world no.1 at the end of last year and after he failed to build on such a strong performance in 2016, a lot of people assumed that the pressure of being world no.1 and remaining world no.1 affected Murray's form and that's the reason he has been so bad in 2017.

While that's the opinion of the public, Nadal thinks that Murray being number one is not affecting his form, but tiredness could be playing a role.

"I don't think being No.1 affects on play ... I don't see a reason why. But at the same time, it's so difficult to be on the top of your game and mentality for every week," Nadal said.

"He had an unbelievable year last year, winning almost all the matches ... and that's tough. Physically, mentally, it's tough to do what he did at the end of his season," he added.