Clay-Court Master Rafael Nadal Putting Together French Open Run for the Ages

It would be impressive enough for Rafael Nadal "simply" to become the first player in the history of men's tennis to earn seven French Open titles with another run through Roland Garros this week.

But Nadal is well on his way to making history within history, which is only fitting for a man who's arguably the greatest clay-court player to ever grace the sport.

At the tender age of 26.

Sorry (Nadal's not sorry), Bjorn Borg.

Rafa showed no mercy on Monday against Juan Monaco, a close friend of his on the ATP Tour. He wiped the court with his 13th-seeded Argentine counterpart, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, raising his total of games dropped to all of 19 through the first four rounds of play.

According to Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press (via the San Francisco Chronicle), that's the fewest games conceded through the initial four rounds at the French Open in 30 years since Guillermo Vilas skated into the quarterfinals with only 16 games lost to his name, and the fewest in any Grand Slam event since John McEnroe survived the first four rounds of the 1984 US Open after losing just 19 games.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Nadal has played so cleanly in Paris over the past week. Fendrich notes that Nadal's 13 unforced errors against Monaco raised his total to 64 for the tournament, which is 13 fewer than Novak Djokovic had in his fourth-round faceoff with Andreas Seppi alone.

In other words, Rafa might actually be playing some of the best tennis of his career right now, which is remarkable enough considering how dominant he's been on clay since bursting onto the scene in 2005 when he was 19. He came into this year's French Open with a 45-1 record in past Parisian play and has done nothing but up the ante since.

And figure to continue to do so from here on out. He owns a perfect 7-0 career record against his next opponent, fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. Assuming he advances to the semis, he'll see either David Ferrer (15-4 in 19 previous matches) or Andy Murray (13-5 in 18 meetings), and Djokovic or Roger Federer in the final. Djokovic has beaten Nadal in each of the last three Grand Slam finals, but has never faced Rafa in a French Open final.

Federer, on the other hand, has seen Rafa in the last match at Roland Garros on four occasions and has lost each time.

Impressive? Yes. Historic? Most definitely.

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