The unknown future of Rafael Nadal

— -- PARIS -- The white geraniums were still casting long shadows along the eastern edges of Court Philippe Chatrier -- it was not yet 9 a.m., -- when its most famous practitioner emerged from the tunnel.

Rafael Nadal, wearing shorts the color of the red clay and a white T-shirt, began hitting easily. His coach and uncle, Toni, stood behind him, racket in hand, arms crossed, murmuring instructions softly. Soon, Nadal was hammering immense forehands, which made a sound that filled the 15,000-seat stadium, even though there were fewer than 25 people scattered around the venue. And then he added his personal audio as ball impacted racket:

"Eyanhh!"

Eyanhhhh!!"

The numbers are concrete and, frankly, unfathomable. Nadal has won 67-of-68 matches here at Roland Garros, and he is 86-for-87 in best-of-five-set matches on clay. But his history is not the question at this French Open. Rather, what is in Nadal's head and heart? After a year of injury, gnawing doubt and middling results, does he truly believe he can win his 10th title?

This is the overarching storyline that tennis fans desperately hope will play out for the next nine days, as Nadal and No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic work their way through the draw toward a hugely anticipated collision in the quarterfinals.

And so the quest began Tuesday.

The No. 6 seed, not always a fast starter, dispatched an 18-year-old French wild card named Quentin Halys, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. The match against the No. 296th-ranked player required 1 hour, 50 minutes, but perhaps Rafa was feeling generous. Halys won the junior doubles title here a year ago, and his reward was to make his Grand Slam singles debut against the greatest clay-court player ever -- on his favorite court in the world.

Nadal came to Paris with five losses on clay, his most defeats on the dirt in a dozen years. His serve was broken once by the teenager, but Nadal played a solid if unspectacular match.

Serving to stay in it at 3-5, Halys managed to win his fourth game of the third set -- and 10th overall -- the appreciative crowd gave him a rousing ovation. In the next game, a backhand service return into the net sent Rafa skipping to net and rendering a modest uppercut with a fist. He pulled off his turquoise bandanna and shook out his wet hair before slapping palms with Halys and patting him on the back.

"Quentin is the future," Nadal told the crowd. "Big serve, tried to hit winners from everywhere. That's where the tennis is moving now.

"Playing center court first time is not easy."

Nadal's first French Open should have been 2003, but an elbow injury suffered in practice took him out of play. A year later, a stress fracture in his left ankle forced him to again miss Roland Garros. In 2005, he beat Lars Burgsmuller of Germany in straight sets on Court 1 -- then was summoned to Chatrier for a second-round audience with Xavier Malisse. Nadal, at 18, the same age as Halys, throttled Malisse in straight sets and went on to win his first Grand Slam singles title, defeating Roger Federer in the semifinals and, in the final, Mariano Puerta.

In the 10-plus intervening years, Nadal has lost only once here, to Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the 2009 tournament.

Will he, as so many believe, lose his second sometime this fortnight?

Toward the end of his warm-up session, Nadal's thumping forehands, which routinely had been sailing long, began to tighten up and find the range. After a few back-and-forths, Rafa really cracked one and the ball cleaned the dust from the intersection of the baseline and sideline. When his sparring partner confirmed that it was good -- as good as can be -- Rafa smiled and caught Uncle Toni's eye.

Does he feel, in his head and his heart, that he can win a 10th title?

How could he not?