Twenty years ago, Pete Sampras defeated two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera in five wrenching sets at the very place where the Spaniard had enjoyed the apex of his career -- those dusty, rust-colored courts of Roland Garros.

Three matches later, Sampras took out two-time French winner Jim Courier in the quarterfinals and appeared poised to win his first French Open and complete a rare career Grand Slam. However, history tells us that eventual champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov hammered Sampras in the semis -- in straight sets. Sampras won Wimbledon a staggering seven times (in eight years) and the US Open on five occasions. He captured the Australian Open twice in a span of three years but never, ever hoisted the trophy in Paris.

Novak Djokovic has failed to win the French Open in 11 previous tries. Julian Finney/Getty Images

Sampras understands precisely the void Novak Djokovic feels heading into this French Open. The stellar Serb, who will turn 29 on Sunday when the first balls fly in Paris, is the best tennis player in our solar system, but he is an ugly 0-for-11 at Roland Garros. He has been strong enough to get to three of the past four finals, but has been knocked just enough off his stride to lose. Is this finally the year that Djokovic will find that epic career closure?

"Very possibly," Sampras said, laughing, from his California home. "But there's never any guarantees. Rafa is playing better, and it looks like he's got some confidence back.

"The competition at that place is so fierce, but Novak is so good."

But to this point, he hasn't been quite good enough to win on the surface least conducive to his extraordinarily flexible game. Nevertheless, at the moment Djokovic has:

• Nearly twice as many ATP rankings points (16,000-plus) as the No. 2 player, Andy Murray.

• Won five of the past seven Grand Slam singles titles and, astonishingly, 17 of the past 22 important tournaments in men's tennis.

• Taken an astounding 37 of 41 sets in his past 18 matches against top-10 players.

Djokovic dropped two of those sets in a loss to Murray in Sunday's soggy Rome final, but Djokovic's body of work this year is unimpeachable. He has won three of the five Masters 1000 events; Murray and Rafael Nadal have the other two.

With Nadal playing better again -- he won back-to-back clay titles in Barcelona and Monte Carlo -- the dominant theme in Paris will be Djokovic versus Nadal, the man who beat Djokovic in both the 2012 and 2014 finals.

"Rafa getting some tournament wins, building confidence and believing in himself again, is going to cause problems for everyone," said Darren Cahill, coach of Madrid winner Simona Halep and former coach of Andre Agassi and Lleyton Hewitt. "He's starting to show some of that old swagger on court, and he's worked incredibly hard to recover it.

"The challenge for Novak in winning his first Roland Garros title has become as much a mental battle as it is a physical battle. And that is matched up with the fact that he's competing in an era against the greatest clay-court player the game has ever seen."

Throw in Murray, who beat Djokovic on Sunday for the very first time on clay, and it should be a fun fortnight.

No guarantees

A prohibitive favorite, Novak Djokovic fell to Stan Wawrinka in last year's French Open final. Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images

A year ago, Djokovic wrecked Rafa in an anticlimactic quarterfinal match, allowing the Spaniard only nine games over three sets. Then Murray, another old foil, finally succumbed in a 6-1 fifth set in the semifinals against Djokovic. The long-standing hump, apparently, had been scaled.

That is until Stan Wawrinka pretty much blew Djokovic off the court in a finals result that few saw coming.

"It took almost a borderline superhuman shot-making performance to beat him," said Justin Gimelstob, a Tennis Channel analyst. "To Stan's credit, it was amazing that he was able to do it."

Sampras, Boris Becker, Jimmy Connors and Stefan Edberg -- who won a combined 30 major titles -- never won at Roland Garros. Similarly, Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander, winners of 14 combined Slams, failed to win only at Wimbledon.

Eleven-time Grand Slam champion Rod Laver won the French Open twice, in 1962 and 1969, the years he won tennis' single-season Grand Slam.

"Wawrinka played out of his mind, hitting those unbelievable shots with so much power," Laver said from his California home. "It's pretty amazing what Djokovic has accomplished last year and into this year. He raised his game and his fitness and flexibility. It's uncanny how he can get to so many of those shots.

"He's so confident. He thinks every shot he hits, 'I'll set this up for the next [winning] shot.' The way he's played on clay the last few years has been really amazing. Now he just has to take the next step."

So, so close

After losing to Wawrinka last year, Djokovic had this to say to the press at Roland Garros:

"There are two players who want to win this trophy, not just me. I think people tend to create more of a story where it's just me. It feels like I'm the only player who wants to win this trophy; this is completely untrue.

"He deserved to win."

Before this year's tournament in Monte Carlo, Djokovic talked about his now-chronic desire to win in Paris.

"I don't like the word 'obsession' because it doesn't come from the right emotion," Djokovic said. "But of course, being the only Grand Slam I haven't won gives me even more incentive to give my best there this year.

"When you need to operate as a human machine, you need to do that only in the present moment and the present time."

With only a couple of days before the French Open, that time is now.

"I thought Novak was going to do it in '14 and '15," Tennis Channel analyst Mary Carillo said. "He's a lot like Serena -- you're only going to be wrong a few times a year predicting against him."

So the bottom line is ...

Most experts believe this will be Novak Djokovic's year to finally win the French. Julian Finney/Getty Images

"Yes, Djokovic will win," Gimelstob said. "He's the best tennis player in the world, and he is, I just believe, poised, physically and mentally, to do it. I don't see anyone being able to beat him in a best-of-five-sets match."

Which, of course, is what they used to say about Nadal.

Gimelstob, perhaps thinking back to last year's quarterfinal, went so far as to say the matchup is now "prohibitive" in favor of Djokovic.

"I struggle to see Rafa being able to [beat Djokovic]," Gimelstob said. "The value [Rafa] gets on [clay] versus 99 percent of the players doesn't yield the same dividends against Djokovic. Mainly because Djokovic can mute his forehand to backhand by how early he takes the ball and controls the middle of the court and how well he moves.

"Nadal, against everybody else, stands in the middle, pushing everyone from side to side and back. Not against Djokovic."

Cahill agreed, saying, "Right now, Novak's best is better than anyone's on any surface, so he has a great shot. He is my pick right now to win his first French Open title."

Sampras, maybe because of his personal history at Roland Garros, isn't willing to go quite so far.

A few weeks ago, he spent some time detailing Djokovic's vast collection of strengths. Twenty minutes after hanging up, he called back with a tweak.

"I've been thinking about this," he said. "I said Djokovic and Agassi were the best returners of serve I ever saw. I want to change that. Djokovic's the best ever. What he's been doing is just remarkable."

In another testament to Djokovic's astonishing rise, his title in Madrid gave him 64 ATP titles, level with Sampras and the great Bjorn Borg for sixth on the Open era list.

"He's obviously good enough to win the French," Sampras said. "Maybe he gets the breaks, if not this year then next year. He's just too good not to win the French at some point."