French Open Tennis 2012: What Rafael Nadal Must Do to Bring Home No. 11

Most people think all Rafael Nadal has to do to win his seventh French Open is simply show up. Not so fast. 

Nadal is easily the best clay player in the world, but he hasn't rolled through opponents with ease like he used to.

Still, he's the King of Clay and is going to be a very heavy favorite. Just don't be surprised if something shocking happens in Paris. 

Over the past year or so, there have been some events that might suggest Nadal's utter dominance is simply turning into regular dominance.

Flash back to last year: Nadal lost two straight tournaments on clay to Novak Djokovic at Madrid and Rome. Not only did he lose, he failed to win a set in either of those matches.

At Madrid, the Djoker won 49 percent of his returns. In Rome, he put in 75 percent of his first serves, and Nadal barely stood a chance.

It appeared, at least slightly, that Nadal was going to give up his reign as the King.

Of course, once Roland Garros rolled around the next month, all of those thoughts were put to rest as he won his sixth title. However, this one wasn't as easy as Rafa was used to.

In the first round, he struggled immensely with big American John Isner and his big serve. Isner led Rafa two sets to one before Nadal eventually made the comeback and advanced.

But someone took Nadal to five sets...at Roland Garros. That kind of thing just doesn't happen. I'm still not even sure if that was real life. 

Then, in the final, Rafa struggled, at least by his standards, against Roger Federer. He won in four sets, but it was the best Fed-Ex had played Nadal at Roland Garros since at least 2006. 

Now take a look at this year: Nadal looked like his normal self at Monte-Carlo and Rome, getting revenge against Djokovic—both times in straight sets.

That certainly is a good sign for Paris, but what happened at Madrid?

That silly blue clay certainly can't really be classified as clay, but a second-round loss to Fernando Verdasco is still at least a little bit concerning.

It's not concerning in the fact that Nadal lost the match, but it's concerning in how he lost it. Rafa led 5-2, 15-0 on his serve in the third set before absolutely unraveling. Blue clay or not, Nadal should have won that match, and it's a little unnerving to see him fall apart like that.

At Roland Garros, he must stay within himself and keep control.

For the record, I'm not going to bet against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. I don't have the stones to do something like that. But over the last 14 months, the King of Clay has begun to show some dents in his armor.

The best clay tennis player ever must be careful.

If he doesn't protect those dents and take every opponent seriously, we will see one of the biggest upsets in French Open history.

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