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The European clay court season begins this week in Monte Carlo and continues until the French Open in late May and early June.

If you are a really hard-core tennis fan, the next few weeks will be heaven if you have The Tennis Channel.

The Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry picks up in earnest now that Nadal is back on the extremely slow and heavy red clay courts he loves.

It will be interesting to see if Federer is willing to adapt his backhand to the high-bouncing shots that Nadal produces on that surface and to slice more balls back than he did last year in a losing effort that was punctuated by his unwillingness to do just that.

There is no guarantee that either player will reach the final since Nadal will have to get through Safin, Nalbandian or Murray in his quarter of the draw.

In his quarter of the draw, Federer has this year’s Sony Ericsson winner, Novak Djokovic. He soundly defeated two-time Federer-beater Guillermo Canas in the final of that event in Miami just a few weeks ago.

The slow clay European segment of the ATP Tour usually produces many of the best matches of they year, true battles of attrition which come down to who wants it more and has the mental toughness to grind it out for two or three hours.

And watch these matches closely. You can always pick up a tip or two by watching the best in the game compete.

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Howie Burnett is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association and tennis director at the Island Country Club on Marco Island. Burnett welcomes questions on strokes, tactics or etiquette. To reach him, call the tennis shop at 394-4464 or e-mail him at islandclubtennis@hotmail.com.