TENNIS FRENCH OPEN:FAVOURITE RAFAEL Nadal must negotiate a tricky path in his bid for a fifth French Open title after the draw for the claycourt grand slam, which starts tomorrow.

World number two Nadal, however, did not seem too worried by his fate as he was spotted practising on a sunbathed centre court while holders Roger Federer and Svetlana Kuznetsova were making the draw yesterday.

Nadal, beaten for the first time at Roland Garros last year, is in the same half as fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

Following a first-round match against Frenchman Gianni Mina, the Spaniard could meet Australian Lleyton Hewitt and big-serving Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia before a possible quarter-final against Verdasco and a semi-final with Djokovic.

Nadal refused to look beyond his first-round opponent. Asked who were his main rivals, he said: “First round, no? I play against a wildcard from France and that’s my toughest opponent now.”

Fourth-seed Andy Murray will face gifted Frenchman Richard Gasquet and the Paris crowd in a treacherous first round. Murray has lost two of his three matches against Gasquet but won the last one in a five-set thriller at Wimbledon in 2008.

World number one Federer takes on Australian Peter Luczak and could face France’s Gael Monfils in the fourth round and Swede Robin Soderling, whom he defeated in last year’s final to win his first and only Paris crown.

In the women’s draw, four-times champion Justine Henin got a difficult draw with a possible third-round clash against Russia’s Maria Sharapova. A quarter-final match with world number one Serena Williams, who takes on Swiss Stefanie Voegele, looms for the 22nd-seeded Belgian.

Holder Kuznetsova, seeded sixth, has an easier draw with a possible quarter-final against third-seeded Dane Caroline Wozniacki.