LONDON (AFP) - Rafa Nadal will use the Queen's Club championship as the springboard to success at Wimbledon when the grass-court season begins on Monday.

Nadal's ability to bludgeon opponents into submission on every other surface has been honed to perfection, but success on the lush lawns of west London still eludes him.

Although the Spaniard knows his power game will never be totally suited to grass, losing successive Wimbledon finals to Roger Federer has only strengthened his desire to conquer the surface.

With Wimbledon just three weeks away, Nadal would love to tune up for the All-England club by winning the traditional warm-up even at Queen's for the first time.

He arrives in England bolstered by a glowing tribute a man who knows better than most what it takes to win on grass.

Bjorn Borg, a five-time Wimbledon champion, believes the 22-year-old from Mallorca is ready to take Federer's crown.

"Nadal can play on any surface," Borg said. "If I would pick a winner for Wimbledon in 2008 I would pick Nadal. He knows he can play on grass now and he knows he can win on it. He's a great player and a great person."

If world number two Nadal is to get the ideal preparation at Queen's he will have to fight through a field including four more of the world's top ten.

Federer will be absent as usual but reigning champion Andy Roddick, Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and France's Richard Gasquet, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year, are all in town.

British number one Andy Murray, Australia's Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian, making his Queen's debut, add further depth to one of the tournament's strongest ever line-ups.

Roddick should start as the favourite after winning the title four times in the last five years, including 2007's thrilling final set tie-break success over France's Nicolas Mahut.

If he or Hewitt triumph in this 30th year of the competition they will set a new record for Queen's singles title victories.

Djokovic is well capable of dominating on grass and the Serbian, fresh from a French Open semi-final defeat to Nadal, would love to get a quick measure of revenge.

"It would mean the world to me if I was successful enough to win two huge tournaments such as these (Queen's and Wimbledon) but I don't want to push myself too much," Djokovic said.

"I know I am the third player of the world, I have a lot of expectations and I am one of the favourites to win at The Queen's Club, but I need to go step-by-step.

"I am one of the best players in the world now and with my recent results I showed my quality and I think I deserve to be there. But, I don't want to push myself too far or have too high goals and say that I need to be number one in the world this year or next year.

"I don't need that, I need to think about what I do, try to get my game to the highest possible level and have a good team around me, and the results will come sooner or later."

Nalbandian's 2002 Wimbledon final appearance is proof enough of his all-round talent and the Argentinean admits playing at Queen's can only help his challenge for Federer's title.

"I have never been to Queen's before, but everyone told me that it is a good tournament," Nalbandian said. "I am looking forward to being there.

"I like playing on grass, I played my first Grand Slam final on grass in 2002 and I will be in London for one month this time so I think I will be more prepared for Wimbledon than ever before."