French Open - Top seed Justine Henin says she is not happy at having to begin her French Open title defence on Sunday's opening day at Roland Garros.

Belgium's Henin, chasing a third successive crown, will face Russia's Elena Vesnina in the second match scheduled on the showcase Roland Garros court.

"It's a little bit weird, I don't like it that much," the world number one told Eurosport about beginning her campaign on the opening Sunday for the first time ever.

"I don't have the choice, I have to play on Sunday. It's okay, on centre court, I don't mind, my goal is just to win my match."

"It's different for sure, so we can discuss about that after the match. If I win it's going to be pretty good news."

In regards to her first match against the unheralded Vesnina, Henin says she is not discounting anybody in her drive to make it three straight French Open titles and four total at the Paris grand slam.

"I never played her in the past, I just know that it's a first-round and I have a lot of respect for everyone and I will have to play my best. I will just have to be focused on myself."

Henin said that her return to Paris would be an emotional one after being forced to skip January's Australian Open because of her divorce, but that she was ready after a light clay season that included a title in Warsaw and a semi-finals appearance in Berlin.

"I think I've been better in my preparations than I was in the last few years. I played a couple of good matches," said the Belgian, who turns 25-years-old next week.

"If we just talk about tennis it's been very good and I've been happy with my level."

Henin said that she was only going to focus on one match at a time, but there were several big names later in the draw who could prove a real threat to her title defence.

"Jankovic, Kuznetsova, Williams, Ivanovic, you know Mauresmo maybe, Sharapova, a lot of names and a lot of things can happen in this tournament so we'll see."

In Sunday's opening centre court match, Paris darling Marat Safin, seeded 13th, plays Spaniard Fernando Vicente.

There will be 24 matches on the various courts, twice as many as last year when the two-week tournament started on a Sunday for the first time.

Neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal, the favourites for the men's title, will be in action.

Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 champion, will appear on Court One against unheralded American Amer Delic.

The Williams sisters will also be on duty.

Serena, the 2002 champion, back in Paris after missing the tournament for the last two years, will meet Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova while Venus takes on Frenchwoman Alize Cornet.

The weather forecast for the first day is rather gloomy with rain expected to disrupt play.