Rafael Nadal will make tennis history at the French Open in 2017 should he walk away with the Coupe des Mousquetaires for a 10th time.

Many have tried, but never before has one player won the same grand slam title on 10 occasions. Only the great Martina Navratilova has come close with nine Wimbledon crowns.

Three years ago you would have expected Nadal to have already completed the astonishing feat, however his form dipped dramatically as knee and back injuries plagued the Spaniard.

A quarter-final exit to Novak Djokovic in 2015 was understandable but his third-round withdrawal 12 months later began to put doubts into people's minds.

Would we ever see Nadal at his best again? Were his injuries too debilitating? For a while it looked so, but 2017 has seen a resurgence from the 30-year-old and he goes to Roland Garros as hot favourite.

His whipped forehand is back to full power, his movement is on par with the likes of Djokovic and Andy Murray and his desire is undoubtedly back. He would argue it never really went away.

Nadal has always been at home on the clay and never has that been more evident than this year as he collected titles in Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Madrid.

He made it 10 crowns in both Barcelona and Monte Carlo and securing 'La Decima' at Roland Garros will further enhance his status as the King of Clay while elevating his feats to a level that will never be matched.

On his way to those three crowns - which came after he was runner-up to Roger Federer in Miami - Nadal only dropped two sets, a seriously impressive statistic for a 15-match streak.

Success in Rome seemed inevitable given his sensational form but Dominic Thiem - the man he beat in the Barcelona and Madrid finals - finally brought his run to an end in the last eight.

It would have been an eighth title in the Italian capital but in truth he probably won't have minded, the early exit giving him more time to recuperate ahead of his favourite grand slam.

Speaking after his Thiem defeat, Nadal said: "I'm going to rest a little bit - that I think I deserve, and then I am going to start to prepare for Roland Garros, try to be best prepared as possible during that week before.

"It is an important event for me, obviously."

So Nadal is pumped and ready for a crack at title number 10, but how are his rivals faring?

Murray has been distinctly average in recent weeks on clay, the world number one suffering losses against Fabio Fognini and Borna Coric in quick succession.

Djokovic has found some form after a dip of his own and will begin a new coaching partnership with Andre Agassi in Paris.

Thiem is fancied by many to challenge but in truth Nadal is the man to beat, and rightly so.

His return to the top echelons of men's tennis have delighted many, now a place in the history books beckons as he looks to end a three-year wait for his 15th grand slam.