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The beginning of April means the beginning of European clay-court season. After spectacular first Grand Slam tournament in Australia with finally first win for Amelie Mauresmo and amazing run from Marcos Baghdatis, after first two Masters Series tournaments both won by Federer, we are going to switch surfaces for next few months! Women already play on clay, green though, in Amelia Island, men will start next week in Valencia and Houston. What can we expect from clay-court season this year? For sure we will not see Andre Agassi who decided to skip this part of tennis season in a bid to be fully fit for Wimbledon. We will probably not see Lindsay Davenport who wants to do the same because of a back problem. 2005 was a year of unprecedented domination of two players, Federer and Nadal. Rafael was absolutely amazing on clay having won 8 tournaments on this surface, Roland Garros included. Besides, he beat Swiss pretty convincingly in Paris confirming that he is number one on slow courts. Although Federer is solid on each surface (that's part of his genius), he hasn't won the French Open. Yet… Sergi Bruguera predicts 2006 Roland Garros final between those two. Many would like Roger to win on red dirt in Paris as it would only confirm that he is probably the best tennis player ever. But does it all mean a supremacy of only two players? Well, we would like others to surprise us. What about Gasquet who is said to be the most talented young guy nowadays? What about Berdych who was called “mini-Federer”? Do not forget about South American and Spanish masters like Coria, Nalbandian, Gaudio, Ferrero or Robredo. And last but not least – Marat Safin did not say his last word! Women’s competition will be really interesting because there is no player that would recently dominate WTA Tour. Of course Amelie Mauresmo got a lot of confidence having won Australian Open but there are others like Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Kim Clijsters or Svetlana Kuznetsova who will try to give her hard time. The question is if Mauresmo is able to hold the pressure of French expectations. Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to begin clay-court season!