Returning to Roland Garros for the first time in four years, Roger Federer concedes success in Paris is a question mark.
The third-seeded Swiss, who opens against Italian Lorenzo Sonego, was candid when asked if he can win the title.
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"Don't know. A bit of a question mark for me," Federer replied. "Some ways I feel similar to maybe the Australian Open in '17. A bit of the unknown. I feel like I'm playing good tennis, but is it enough or is it enough against the absolute top guys when it really comes to the crunch?
"I'm not sure if it's in my racquet, you know. But I hope I can get myself in that position deep down in the tournament against the top guys, you know. But first I need to get there and I know that's a challenge in itself. Yeah, it's definitely going to be an exciting tournament mentally to go through."
A decade ago, Federer won his lone Roland Garros crown to complete the Grand Slam.
The 37-year-old Swiss said he feels fit and prepared for Paris noting the biggest challenge of advancing age is his body doesn't recover quite as quickly from nagging injuries.
"I think probably the biggest difference I feel is just sometimes recovery from an injury or from a certain pain you feel takes longer," Federer said. "You know, like when you have maybe a blocked back as a teenager, it's really going to hurt you for the rest of the day and maybe the next day, and after that it's kind of gone. Whereas maybe if you have that at my age it might linger and stay around for a week, maybe a month. Depends, you know, what your issue is.
"I feel like it's mostly there. Otherwise, whatever the surface is for me, thankfully I don't have an issue with grass, clay, or hard, it seems like anyway. I pulled up on the clay totally fine after Madrid. Of course I had some muscle pain in different places that maybe I wouldn't have had on the grass or the hard courts. That's normal and I will feel those muscle pains as well when I go on the grass, maybe lower back or hips and all that stuff. Maybe you feel more pressure on it.
"But overall, I think it's all in how are you able to train."
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