Roger Federer has won the French Open only once before, in 2009.
That is because Nadal has been such a dominant force on clay over the past 15 years, with 11 wins at Roland Garros.
Federer often chooses to snub the French Open in order to prepare his body for Wimbledon – where he has enjoyed far greater success.
But it appears as though the Swiss maestro is preparing to head to Paris once again.
Roger Federer is currently training ahead of the Australian Open next month and was snapped in Saudi Arabia.
Twitter user @FaisalArab8 met the superstar and Tennis World wrote: “In a chat with @FaisalArab8, Roger Federer hinted that he could participate in the Rome and Barcelona championships on clay in preparation for Roland Garros.
“But he has not been confirmed yet and will confirm his participation after the Indian Wells and Miami Championships.”
Rome and Barcelona are two major Masters 1000 events on the ATP Tour that come before Roland Garros.
Nadal uses the competitions to build form ahead of the second Grand Slam of the year.
Were Federer to compete there, it would be an indication that he is ready for a Paris title challenge.
But at the age of 37, the 20-time Grand Slam champion would have to put his body through plenty of pain to battle through a month of clay-court tennis.
As for Nadal, he is confident he will play in Australia next month after recovering from an ankle operation.
“I am making a lot of steps forward since the surgery on the foot,” Nadal told CNN.
“I started practising tennis one week earlier, and in higher intensity than we had thought.
“It was a little bit of risk that we don’t make it into the beginning of the season, but here we are, practicing more or less hard and we are excited to start the new season.
“Being honest, we are having a better off-season than last year.
“Last year, I finished the year very bad with my knees.
“I enjoy the fact that for me, it’s a challenge, always, to be back again after a tough period of time because of injuries.
“For me, it’s a challenge to start a new season.
“We try things and we work on new things. And at the end of the day, you need to go on court every day with the passion to improve something, and with the motivation to keep on going.”