World number one Federer has endured a series of bitter disappointments in the French capital.

As well as coming up short at the French Open, the only Grand Slam to elude him, his record at the Paris Masters is far from impressive having never got beyond the last eight in three visits.

The last time he appeared at the Bercy arena, in 2003, he was dogged by back trouble and tumbled out in straight sets at the quarterfinals stage at the hands of Tim Henman.

Adding insult to his injury, his lacklustre performance sparked a chorus of jeers as he left the court.

"This was the worst week ever," moaned the Swiss at the time.

Over in the plush, western side of the city, the clay courts of Roland Garros have also found him wanting with Nadal beating him in the semi-finals and final in the last two years at the French Open.

Meanwhile, Nadal, responsible for four of Federer's five defeats in 2006, is making his first appearance at the Paris Masters and comes into the event looking to get his season back on track.

After a disappointing four months, the 20-year-old Spaniard is hoping to bounce back in the city which has yielded him the last two French Open crowns.

"I'll do my best to win, that's the plan. I know that I'm playing much better than a month ago," said the world number two.

Nadal started the season strongly, winning five titles including Masters Series events in Rome and Monte Carlo and Roland Garros.

But since his surprise final finish at Wimbledon, where he lost to Federer, he has suffered a drop in form and made a quarter-final exit on home soil in Madrid two weeks ago, losing an angry encounter with Paris champion Tomas Berdych.

"I played a lot in the first half of the season and left a lot of physical and mental energy behind me," explained Nadal.

"But in Madrid, despite losing to Berdych, I played one of my best tournaments of the year. I want to go on playing like that."

Paris Masters organisers will have breathed a sigh of life that Federer and Nadal are fit to play.

The duo were just two of the high-profile injury absentees 12 months ago.

Lleyton Hewitt, as well as former champions Marat Safin and Andre Agassi, also opted not to play leaving the final Masters tournament of the year with just five of the world's top ten in the French capital.

Drawcard Andy Roddick struggled through to a semi-final defeat leaving Berdych to take the title against Ivan Ljubicic and the organisers to demand action to cure the problem of the no-shows.

One notable absentee this year is world number three David Nalbandian. The Argentinian is suffering from stomach problems.

Federer and Nadal start their Paris campaigns with a bye into the second round.

The Swiss will face either former Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson of Sweden or a qualifier in his first outing.

Nadal comes up against either French wildcard Nicolas Mahut or former double champion and world number one Safin.