By Chris Oddo | Sunday, May 17, 2015

After his loss to Novak Djokovic in the Rome final, Roger Federer told media members that he still believes Rafael Nadal is the Roland Garros favorite.

Despite the fact that the king of clay has lost more matches on clay in 2015 than he has in any other season since 2003, Federer believes that Nadal’s dominant lifetime record of 66-1 at Roland Garros makes him the man to beat in Paris.

"You cannot take away the past 10 years," said Federer, according to ATPWorldTour.com. "It’s going to be best-of-five sets. We know how tough Rafa is physically and mentally. He is the favorite still to me. Novak at this point probably has to win, with the results he's shown this year. It feels similar to 2011 when he didn't lose the whole year.”

He added: "Maybe Rafa isn’t having the same success as before but nevertheless that remains the situation for me. But it's all talk because in the end his racquet's going to do the talking."

Djokovic, meanwhile, is confident and using his recent hot streak to bolster his confidence and as motivation.

He was asked just how high his confidence was after today’s final in Rome:

“As high as it can be,” the world No. 1 said. “I played two tournaments in clay courts, I’ve won both, won against all the top players in those events. Obviously Grand Slam is a completely different tournament – two weeks, best of five, obviously more motivation for all the players being there to win against you on the center court, but I’m looking forward to it. That’s the tournament I’ve been preparing for.”