Twelve months ago, the 25-year-old came here with a chance of making the elite eight-man Masters Cup season finale as he reaped the reward for his best ever season which had seen him pick up two titles and his ranking soar to 11.

But 2004 has been a let down with his world ranking having slipped to 23, his worst for two years and with just one more title added to his collection, the pre-Wimbledon grasscourt warm-up at Nottingham.

A low point came last week when he lost in the first round in Basel to Stefan Koubek.

In Paris he will be unseeded and faces America's Vince Spadea in the first round before a possible second round match-up against defending champion and third seed Tim Henman of Great Britain.

Paradorn, who carried his country's flag at the Olympic Games opening ceremony before losing in the first round in August, admits he has been struggling in a tough schedule which has seen him play 28 tournaments this year.

"I was just thinking too much and I wasn't staying focused," he confessed after a second round loss to Robbie Ginepri in Vienna two weeks ago.

Such was his frustration with his disintegrating game in Austria that the Asian number one slumped into a line judge's box at courtside in disgust at one stage.

But there are signs that he is still a man to rise to the occasion.

On home territory in Bangkok in September, he took the first set off world number one Roger Federer before going down in three in the semi-finals.

"That gave me a lot of confidence," said Paradorn.

"I have to now believe in myself that I can play like this. It was a dream match for me to play Roger, the world No.1, in Thailand.

"I put it in a positive way which is, if I stay fit and play like this I will have great tournaments in the future."