Novak Djokovic out to dethrone King Rafael Nadal

They say all good things must come to an end. It is an adage that Rafael Nadal will be desperate to dispel when he defends the French Open.

Nadal has long been dubbed the 'King of Clay' due to his phenomenal achievements at Roland Garros, which have seen him win the tournament nine times from 10 entries.

The Spaniard's solitary loss came in a shock defeat to Robin Soderling in 2009 - a defeat he responded to by reeling off a record five French Open titles in a row.

Nadal's record on the famous Parisian clay is a staggering 66-1, and the Manacor native has rightly earned his mantle as tennis' greatest ever player on the red surface.

A shoo-in for success at Roland Garros again then, surely?

Not quite. Nadal heads to France in the unfamiliar position of having failed to win a clay-court title this year.

The 28-year-old has struggled to recover from a wrist injury and appendicitis at the back end of last year, leading to an as-yet underwhelming 2015 season.

After exiting before the final in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Nadal was denied a fifth title in the Madrid Open showpiece by Andy Murray, while he also crashed out at the quarter-final stage to Stan Wawrinka in Rome.

So if not Nadal, who will reign supreme in the second major tournament of 2015?

Step forward one Novak Djokovic, the man who has continued to rise to new heights during a superb 2015.

The world number one - who has a 35-2 record for the year - has already won the Australian Open and became the first player to win the first three ATP World Tour Masters events in a season.

Djokovic is in the form of his life and the Serb is motivated for what could be the best opportunity he has had to complete the career Grand Slam.

It seems unthinkable that Djokovic will not join a pantheon of greats including Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Nadal in achieving the feat.

But, thus far, the French has remained agonisingly out of reach. Djokovic suffered a disappointing defeat to Nadal in the 2012 final, before he was beaten again by his foe 12 months ago.

Djokovic can beat Nadal on clay. He proved as much again with a semi-final victory over the 14-time major winner in Monte Carlo last month.

Whether he can turn that into success when it really matters at the French Open is a question that remains unanswered, though.

And what of the other contenders to the throne? Few would have tipped two-time slam winner Murray to be among the favourites in Paris a few months ago, but the Scot has won in both Munich and Madrid in recent weeks.

The evergreen Federer must not be discounted, either. The 2009 French Open champion was a victor in Turkey and only Djokovic prevented him from winning the ATP Internazionali d'Italia in Rome last weekend.

It promises to be one of the most eagerly awaited French Opens during Nadal's stranglehold of the tournament.

When the action begins on May 24, the burning question waiting to be answered is: will there be a new coronation? Or will it be a case of long live the King?