After years of watching Grand Slams, I’m not sure there’s been one more eagerly anticipated than the 2015 French Open. The amount of storylines surrounding this event are mind-boggling and could make Roland Garros far and away the most entertaining major of the entire season.

The most obvious question entering this tournament is will Rafael Nadal be beaten?

While claiming that Nadal will “definitely” not win this tournament is objectively unfair, given his nine titles and 66-1 record at Paris, 2015 seems to present a fine opportunity for someone to take Nadal down.

He lost in Monte Carlo to Novak Djokovic, in Barcelona to Fabio Fognini, in Madrid to Andy Murray, and in Rome to Stan Wawrinka. The loss to Murray in Madrid was particularly surprising considering Murray’s relative lack of success on the red dirt in the past and Nadal’s overwhelming domination of their head-to-head rivalry. The Brit breezed through the match, dropping just five games en route to victory.

The problem, as far as I see it with Nadal, is an inability to put everything together on a consistent basis. He looked great in the first part of his semifinal match with Djokovic in Monte Carlo and was in fine form against Grigor Dimitrov and Tomas Berdych in the Madrid quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, before putting in an absolute clunker of a match in the final against Murray.

This poor run of form entering the French Open does not go without precedent. Entering last year’s French Open, Nadal had suffered losses to David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, and Djokovic. He was unquestionably in better form than he is now, but the fact remains that his level of play and confidence seemed to have left him more vulnerable than he had ever been entering Roland Garros.

Nadal, as we all know, would end up reaching the final, losing the first set to Djokovic, squeaking out a tough second set, and winning the whole thing yet again. I’m not going to sit here and deny the fact that there are differences between this year and last year, but I will say that if you are counting Nadal out based off his inability to win before the French Open, you may want to reconsider.

The two other things that needs to be considered when deciding whether or not you think Nadal will win the French Open is Novak Djokovic’s level of play and where Nadal is placed in the draw.

There’s no doubt that Djokovic is playing a lot better than he was entering the 2014 French Open. The Serbian is fresh off a resounding 6-4 6-3 rout of Roger Federer in the Rome final and enters Roland Garros having won Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, and Rome, as well as the Australian Open. Djokovic last saw defeat nearly three months ago on the swift courts of Dubai and has been almost untouchable since.

What this means is that even if Nadal is able to raise his level of play back to what we’ve seen in past years, overcoming Djokovic may prove too arduous of a challenge. Obviously, Djokovic would love to avoid playing Nadal if possible, but if he does have to play him, the Serb would likely prefer a quarterfinal or a semifinal clash as opposed to a meeting in the final. Nadal typically picks up steam over the course of the French Open as he adjusts to the conditions and the court, so the earlier the better for Djokovic.

Will Nadal win the French Open? I wouldn’t bet against him. Is Djokovic in better shape than ever to claim his first French Open? You bet.