Nadal in his element at French Open I Djokovic makes comfortable start

Rafael Nadal eased through the opening round of the French Open claiming victory against Jordan Thompson, while world No 1 Novak Djokovic cruised past Yoshihito Nishioka.

Nadal was in his element in Paris, winning 6-2 6-2 6-2, and comfortably seeing himself through to the second round.

A chronic foot injury has hampered Nadal's season so far and so a routine victory on his hunt for a 14th French Open win will certainly bolster the 21-time Grand Slam winner's confidence.

The first round win marked his 106th victory at the French Open, the most wins at a single Grand Slam ever and the Spaniard said he will be putting in all his "effort every single day" to get the most he can out of the French Open.

"Of course the confidence is higher when you win in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, or Rome," said Nadal.

"Without a doubt, things are easy in this world to understand, no? When you are winning more matches and more tournaments you have better confidence.

"When this is not the case, things are different. But I never expected to be winning 15 Monte Carlos and Romes, so that's the situation today.

"I got injured, and that's it. What happened is past and here we are. We are in Roland Garros. I am here to try my best.

"And how is my level of confidence? How the things would be or if I didn't get injured, I don't know. We never know. So I'm not a big fan of thinking about the things that could happen if... 'if' is a dangerous word.

"And then it's the moment to accept the situation and to have the confidence to put all my effort in every single day, to get better and better. Let's see how far I can keep going."

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