PARIS, May 21 (AFP) - He may have reached number one in the world by default, but Yevgeny Kafelnikov is deadly serious when it comes to winning Grand Slams. The 25-year-old Russian will be seeking his second straight Grand Slam when the French Open starts at Roland Garros on Monday and is the top seed despite a bizarre rollercoaster year. Kafelnikov opened the season by winning the Australian Open in Melbourne - his second Grand Slam title - and then won in Rotterdam. He promptly went into a slump that saw him lose his opening matches in six straight tournaments before snapping out of that streak at the Italian Open earlier in the month. Due to a quirk in the ATP Tour rankings system, Kafelnikov took over from Pete Sampras on top of the rankings during one of the worst periods of his career. No-one doubts, however, that Kafelnikov's assured all-court game will not be back in full swing in Paris. While ordinary tournaments mean little to him and his mantra has been "It's the Grand Slams that count". Kafelnikov is always fired up for the big events. With wins at Roland Garros in 1996 - where he beat Michael Stich in the final - and in Melbourne earlier this year, where he beat the Swede Thomas Enqvist, he has established himself as one of the men to beat at Grand Slams - no matter what the surface. The tall, fluid right-hander is the first Russian and only the 16th player overall to be world number one and he wants to be in that position after Roland Garros. Despite all his successes, Kafelnikov remains something of a mystery man to tennis fans as he aims to become the first back-to-back Grand Slam winner since Sampras won Wimbledon and the US Open in 1995. He keeps himself to himself, shying away from interviews, public appearances and photo opportunities whenever possible. "It helps me to stay unknown," he said in a recent interview. "Basically, that way, no-one will know what I am up to. Two or three people really know me, but with everyone else I want to be in the shadows." It's hard to be reserved and unapproachable when you've won two Grand Slams and are a household name, but Kafelnikov has been his own man ever since he emerged onto the ATP Tour from his home in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in 1992. While he can be tetchy off court, he's Mr Cool on it, always seeming to play within himself as he makes full use of a devastating repertoire of strokes. Nowhere is he happier than on court - whether it be practising or playing. In four of the last five years he has played more matches than any of his rivals. A powerful server, Kafelnikov is also a devastatingly accurate returner, particularly off his strong backhand side. His groundstrokes are designed to wear opponents down, rather than overpower them, which is why Kafelnikov - a superb thinker and tactician - is such a threat on the slow red clay at Roland Garros. While inconsistency has been a problem for him, there is no chance of over-confidence now he is rated the best player in the world, particularly as he remembers losing to Enqvist in the second round in Paris 12 months ago. "I always think of myself as the underdog. That makes me fight harder," he said. Andrei Medvedev, Kafelnikov's friend and practice partner, says the Russian is able to build on his momentum whenever he gets on top of a match - which makes him a difficult opponent to stop. "You feel like a tank is coming at you," Medvedev told Tennis magazine. "You see it coming, but you can't stop it from rolling over you."  