Andy Murray is confident he will recover in time for the start of the French Open after the Briton was laid low by illness this week.

The world number one was also diagnosed with shingles in February before sustaining an elbow injury in March that ruled him out of the Miami Open and Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final loss to France.

Murray, who opens his Roland Garros campaign against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov and faces a potential third-round clash with either clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro or Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro, has struggled this year.

The 30-year-old’s win percentage of 70.8 percent represents the worst start to a year by a world number one since Pete Sampras in 1999.

Rafael Nadal, on the other hand, has arrived at the tournament in great form, having lost only one match on clay this season, but he is still wary of the threat posed by his French Open first-round opponent, the unpredictable Benoit Paire.

Although he has often wasted his talent with his antics and his inability to handle frustration, Frenchman Paire is a gifted player anyone should handle with care, nine-time Roland Garros champion Nadal said.

Nadal, whose last title in Paris came in 2014, has again become the favourite after struggling with form, reaching his first grand slam final in three years at the Australian Open in January.

He went on to win three of the following four clay court tournaments he has entered, only losing to Dominic Thiem in Rome.