Nadal plays down favourite tag

Reigning three-time champion Rafael Nadal believes he is not favourite ahead of the French Open final against Roger Federer.

Nadal's billing as the King of Clay has been emphatically underlined on the red clay at Roland Garros over the past two weeks.

The Spaniard his imperiously extended his unbeaten record at the event to 27 matches with faultless wins over the likes of claycourt specialist Nicolas Almagro and third seed Novak Djokovic in Friday's semi-final.

Nadal has not dropped a set on his way to the final despite encountering four seeded players in six matches.

World number one Federer, by way of comparison, has dropped three sets while only playing one seeded player - Fernando Gonzalez - en route to the the eagerly anticipated clash with his nemesis Nadal.

Past meetings between the world's top two players further marks Nadal out as the favourite with eight wins from nine previous encounters on clay - including wins in the last two Roland Garros finals - but the 22-year-old is adamant those statistics will count for little come Sunday.

"I don't feel I'm the favourite," said Nadal. "I don't believe in favourites. I think the favourite is the one who can hold the trophy up tomorrow, and then the rest doesn't matter.

"Who's the favourite? Him? Me? I don't care."

Nadal went on to reveal how he plans to counter the threat of Federer in the final, which will mark their 17th meeting on all surfaces.

"I will probably try to attack him on his backhand, play longer shots and so on," he said. "You want to take the lead so he starts to feel uncomfortable."

Nadal is on target to equal Bjorn Borg's record of four successive wins at Roland Garros - achieved between 1978 and 1981 - but Federer is determined to spoil the party after his defeats in the past two finals.