As Rafael Nadal prepares for his 13th Roland Garros, the nine-time champion will be conscious that another triumph in Paris could finally bring confirmation of his clay court supremacy.

The Raging Bull is planning to become the first tennis player to secure a ‘La Decima’ of Grand Slam titles at the French Open. A month after making history by becoming the first man to conquer an ATP tournament ten times in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.

Determining the ‘best clay courter of all time’ is a topic which causes extended debate between the tennis fraternity. However, a tenth victory in the French Capital would surely make it very difficult to see past the Spaniard as the greatest ‘Emperor’ of the clay surface.

His main rival to this status is none other than Chris Evert, who won seven French Open titles, and three US Open titles between 1975 and 1977 when the tournament was played on clay. The American also held an unbelievable 125-game winning streak on clay between 1973 and 1976, while her win/loss record of 382-22 on the red dirt is outstanding when you consider it’s a win percentage of 94.55.

Evert’s numbers are mindboggling and the case for her being the greatest clay courter ever is clearly there for all to see. Yet, many are of the belief that Nadal has the edge because he has had to overcome a magical generation of players in Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who have been greatly equipped on all surfaces. Unlike the challengers of Evert’s day, who were generally specialists of only certain turfs. That argument would be reinforced even further if Nadal could reach double figures at Roland Garros.

His form suggests he has a great chance of success as three tournament wins, two of them Masters 1000 titles, has marked a fabulous period of authority over the past month for the Mallorca man, with his downfall only coming at the hands of an inspired Dominic Thiem in Rome last week in the quarterfinals.

And in the end, a rest and a reason to refocus,could very well turn out to be the perfect preparation for Nadal, ahead of the French Open.

“I have been playing a lot,” said the 30-year-old to ATP World Tour. “Madrid and Rome, back-to-back, after playing Barcelona and Monte-Carlo back-to-back, so it’s not easy after playing almost every day for the past four weeks.

“I'm going to rest a little bit. I think I deserve that. I’m going to start preparing on Monday or Tuesday for Roland Garros and try to have the best preparation possible.”

Since the beginning of the year, Nadal has played with renewed energy and spirit, evocative of his finest game. He’s been back to hitting his forceful forehand and performing his defense tactics with the unrelenting focus, which made him dominant for so long.

After his injuries during the past two years, the chances of a return of this capacity appeared to be extremely remote. Yet Nadal has surprised us all and he is genuinely gunning for power once more on the Parisian clay.

However, claiming the title won’t be an easy task as this season has been one of the most open in tennis for over a decade and there are several young players who are playing at the top of their game.

Alexander Zverev will be bursting with confidence after his magical victory at the Rome Masters on Sunday and is showing signs of his potential greatness. As is Thiem, who has enjoyed a very good clay court season in reaching the finals of Barcelona and Madrid, and will, certainly, be hopeful of producing a similar performance in Paris to last year when he progressed to the last four.

Likewise, Novak Djokovic’s performance in Rome was much improved and his comeback trail seems to be on the right track. Add given the fact that he’ll have a new coach on board in Andre Agassi and the chances of a good run for the Serbian increase dramatically.

Meanwhile, the likes of Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray are always dangerous with their Grand Slam records and will be determined to get their seasons started after a patchy year so far.

Hence, Nadal has it all to do. But if he can clinch his first French title since 2014, then the Spaniard will have convinced many of his peerless rule on clay.