It was never going to be easy for Rafael Nadal to bid goodbye to the place where he has won 14 Grand Slam titles, and the Spaniard yesterday refused to rule out a return to the French Open in 2025.

The 37-year-old has heavily suggested this will be his final year on tour and was treated to lavish farewell ceremonies in Barcelona and Madrid.

But when Nadal was asked in Paris whether this would be his final visit he replied: ‘Don’t assume that.

‘It’s a big, big chance this is going to be my last Roland Garros, but if I have to tell you 100 per cent, sorry, but I will not, because I cannot predict what’s going on. I hope you understand.

‘I don’t want to 100 per cent close the door, because of very simple things. First, I am enjoying playing tennis. Second, I am travelling with the family. And third, I was not able to explore yet how I will be able to play being more or less healthy, playing without limitation.

Rafael Nadal has heavily suggested that this would be his final season on the ATP Tour  

'So give me some time. Maybe in one month and a half I say, OK, it’s enough, I can’t keep going, but today I cannot guarantee this is going to be the last one.’ 

Nadal cut a very different figure than the one we have seen during a torturous clay swing so far. 

He has a ‘super-tough’ first-round draw against No 4 seed Alexander Zverev, but reported that his body is at last beginning to co-operate.

‘This is the first week since I came back playing tennis that I am able to run the proper way without having a lot of limitations. 

'That’s encouraging. Of course that doesn’t mean I’m going to be out there on Monday and play incredible.

‘But this place is magical for me — a lot of times things happened that were difficult to imagine. 

'If, in the bottom of my heart, I don’t have any hope to have success here and create a beautiful thing this year, I would not be here. 

'I still have the motivation and a small — at least a small — hope to play well.’

Before he spoke to the media, 10,000 fans packed into Court Suzanne Lenglen just to watch the 22-time Grand Slam champion practice.

If Nadal is not yet ready to say goodbye to tennis, then tennis is also just as reluctant to bid farewell to him.

Despite his positive soundings, all logic suggests Nadal will fall at the first hurdle to Zverev tomorrow. 

That would leave a power vacuum in this year’s tournament and it is not easy to predict who will fill it.

Three-time champion Novak Djokovic arrives in Paris having not made a single final this year. 

After surprisingly losing in the semis to Czech Tomas Machac in Geneva on Friday night, the 37-year-old talked mysteriously of ‘horrible feelings on court’ and ‘other things on (his) mind’.

Normal service may resume once the serious business of adding to his 24 Grand Slam titles begins, but the evidence against that supposition is mounting.

The two men best placed to take advantage of a below-par Djokovic ought to be Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz and Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner, but they have been dealing with arm and hip issues respectively.

If he gets past Nadal, Zverev, who won the Italian Open title last weekend, could be the one to take advantage in what, on the men’s side, is shaping up to be France’s most open Open for 20 years. 

The women’s event looks far easier to call. World No 1 Iga Swiatek has lost just twice here in her career, winning three titles, and has an 89 per cent win rate on clay. The biggest threat to the Pole is world No 2, Aryna Sabalenka.

The tempestuous Belarusian is developing a compelling rivalry with the tranquil Swiatek. 

They have contested the last two big events, with Swiatek winning both. ‘I’ll get you in Roland Garros,’ joked Sabalenka after Rome. 

She was well beaten there but her display in a pulsating Madrid final has earned her a clay-court trilogy fight in Paris. That would be this tournament’s dream final.