Rafael Nadal is having second best clay-court season of his career, according to statistician

Rafael Nadal, after winning three consecutive clay-court tournaments at Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, is primed to win at Rome and power through to a potential 10th French Open championship. Statistically, Nadal is in the middle of the second-best clay-court season of his career, according to Dan Weston, a renowned tennis analyst.

This clay-court season, Nadal is winning 69.1 percent of his points on serve and 48.3 percent of his return points -- a combined success total of 117.4 percent -- as reported by The Guardian. Nadal, widely renowned as the King of Clay for winning 9 French Open championships and 52 career clay-court tournaments, is reportedly having his second most efficient season only behind 2012, the year when he beat Novak Djokovic in the final to claim his 7th Roland Garross title and 11th over Grand Slam crown.

As aptly described by Sean Ingle, "Most pundits appear to think that Nadal is not quite the dominant force he was, even on clay. Perhaps it is because his biceps are less Popeyeish and his body a little older, or that he has dropped sets to Kyle Edmund in Monte Carlo and Fabio Fognini in Madrid. However, Nadal’s recent performances and Weston’s numbers offer a lively rejoinder."

On Sunday, Nadal made history with his record-tying 30th ATP Masters 1000 title after defeating Austria's Dominic Thiem 7-6(8), 6-4 in the finals of the Madrid Masters. The Spaniard is now on a 15-0 winning streak this clay-court season after breezing past all comers at Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. Nadal will now enter the Italian Open, the last stop before the 2017 French Open.

Rafael Nadal enters 2017 French Open fully healthy

For the first time in nearly three years, Nadal will enter the French Open free of injuries. Last year, Nadal began the year with opening round defeats at the Australian Open and Miami Open before clinching the first two tournaments of the clay-court season -- at Monte Carlo and Barcelona -- before suffering a career-threatening wrist injury which forced him out of the French Open.

In 2015, too, Nadal entered the clay-court season with multiple injuries before losing to Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. This year, however, Nadal is the prohibitive favourite to make history at Roland Garross, according to several analysts. No player in history has won the same Grand Slam on ten separate occasions.

“This is a very emotional period of the season. I really enjoy these tournaments. I just try to go for all of them. I try to compete. I did well in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona, and also here (at Madrid). I hope to do the same in Rome. These last few weeks have been very special,” Nadal said. “I’m very happy for what I achieved," Nadal told a news conference after winning his fifth Madrid Open crown on Sunday. If Rafael Nadal were to prevail at the Italian Open next week, he will set a new record with 31 ATP Masters 1000 titles, eclipsing Novak Djokovic's career tally of 30.