Rafael Nadal versus Casper Ruud has the air of one of sport's great mismatches ahead of the French Open title match.
Nadal's record at Roland Garros is spectacularly intimidating as he bids for a record-extending 14th title on the Paris clay, having won all 13 of his past finals.
In sharp contrast, Ruud has never played a grand slam final. Nor until this week had he played a semi-final at this level, or a quarter-final.
Nadal will be chasing a 22nd title at the majors on Sunday, and Ruud a first; and yet there are factors that offer the underdog hope, not least the fact the favourite is pushing his body into a new fresh hell every time he steps onto court.
Coach Carlos Moya told ATPTour.com that Nadal, hampered by a long-bothersome foot problem, was carrying "a lot of wear and tear".
"But it's the final push," said Moya, anticipating one last gargantuan effort from the man who turned 36 this week.
"So far, Rafa has done an astonishing job of surviving without playing his best tennis."
Ahead of what could be a far tighter final than Saturday's one-sided women's showpiece, Stats Perform assesses the form and the stakes affecting both players.
One last swing at glory for Nadal?
It has long been the case that Nadal has nothing left to prove. Yet it is the Spaniard's instinct to want to push himself to new heights, and his quarter-final win over Novak Djokovic encapsulated that drive.
"All the sacrifices and all the things that I need to go through to try to keep playing really makes sense when you enjoy moments like I'm enjoying in this tournament," Nadal said after booking his place in the final. He was the beneficiary of Alexander Zverev's injury-forced retirement in the semi-finals, and now a first career match against Ruud awaits.
Should Nadal win, at the age of 36 years and two days, he would become the oldest men's singles champion at Roland Garros in history, surpassing his compatriot Andres Gimeno, who was 34 years, 10 months and one day old when he captured the 1972 title.
No other man in history has reached double figures for titles at a single grand slam, with Novak Djokovic's nine Australian Open wins the next most in a major. Across his 13 previous Roland Garros finals, Nadal has dropped only seven sets.
Given his injury problems, it is highly possible this will prove to be Nadal's final French Open. He has an astonishing overall record of 332-34 in sets won and lost at Roland Garros, emerging victorious from 111 of his 114 matches.
If Ruud looks too closely at Nadal's career numbers, they might become dizzying. The veteran has won 62 of his 91 titles on clay, once enjoyed an 81-match winning streak on the surface (2005-07) and has spent a record 871 consecutive weeks inside the ATP top 10, from 2005 to the present day.
He has never won the Australian Open and French Open in the same year, so that is now achievable, given his success at Melbourne Park in January, when he nudged one clear of Djokovic and Roger Federer on the all-time list of most men's singles slam wins.
"We haven't spoken about number 22," said Moya. "Obviously, it's on the horizon, but that would add pressure to Rafa. It's not necessary."
Would it be Ruud to crash the party?
Nadal said Ruud's run has been "not a surprise at all", and there were some experts who fancied the Norwegian to come through the bottom half of the draw before the tournament began, albeit with most making Stefanos Tsitsipas a likelier finalist.
A curiosity is the fact Ruud has trained at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca since 2018, and he has often practised with Nadal. This, though, is their first encounter in competition. The last first-time meeting in a men's French Open final came in 1997 when Gustavo Kuerten beat Sergi Bruguera.
Ruud, 23, would be the youngest men's singles grand slam winner since 20-year-old Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer in the 2009 US Open final. That was a sensation of a result, with the Argentinian ending Federer's five-year reign in New York, and Ruud may find some encouragement from such an upset.
Ruud leads the ATP Tour since the start of the 2020 season in clay-court wins (66), finals (nine) and titles (seven), yet all of his eight career titles have come at ATP 250 level, a relatively low tier of the professional game where the biggest names rarely compete.
He stepped up by reaching the final of the Miami Open, an ATP 1000 tournament, in April, but was beaten to the title by Carlos Alcaraz.
Sunday's challenger from Oslo, whose father and coach Christian Ruud was an ATP top-50 player in his mid-1990s prime, is a former junior world number one.
He has now become Norway's first grand slam finalist and must tackle arguably the most daunting challenge in the men's game.
Nadal said of Ruud on Friday: "I think in the academy we were able to help him a little bit. I like to see a good person achieving his dreams. I'm happy for him, I'm happy for his mom, dad.
"I know them very well. They are a super healthy family and great people. As always, I am super happy when I see these great people having success."
Nadal did not go on to say he would disbar Ruud from his academy should there be a shock outcome on Sunday.
Perhaps the thought of Ruud winning simply never crossed Nadal's mind.
Dan Evans crashes out of French Open in first round
A frustrated Dan Evans was beaten in straight sets by Thanasi Kokkinakis in the opening round of the French Open.
Evans finally won his first match at Roland Garros last year but could not achieve the same result here, going down 6-4 6-4 6-4 to the powerful Australian in hot and lively conditions.
The British number two appeared to have turned the match around in the second set when he led 4-1 but, at 30-0 in the next game, he was faulted for his foot crossing the centre line.
Evans promptly lost four points in a row, slamming his water bottle to the ground in annoyance and earning a code violation, and he did not win another game in the set as the match slipped away.
He gave himself a chance by breaking Kokkinakis, the player beaten by Andy Murray from two sets down in the early hours of the morning at the Australian Open, to pull himself back to 4-4 in the third set.
But Evans promptly dropped serve again and Kokkinakis did not allow him a second chance.
The 33-year-old’s defeat means Cameron Norrie and Jack Draper are the only British players left in the singles main draws.
Tatum on White's buzzer-beater: 'That s*** was crazy!'
Boston Celtics hero Derrick White said "It just had to be won" after his buzzer-beating tip-in forced the Eastern Conference finals to Game 7, as Jayson Tatum added: "That s*** was crazy!"
From 3-0 down against the Miami Heat, the Celtics have fought back to 3-3 in the series, and are now just one win away from making history.
White grabbed and then sank the rebound from Marcus Smart's failed three-pointer with 0.1 seconds remaining to seal a 104-103 victory in Miami on Saturday.
The Celtics are now on the brink of the greatest comeback in NBA playoffs history, needing a win at home in Game 7 on Monday to become the first team to win a series after losing the first three games.
Boston are only the fourth NBA team to erase a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series to force a deciding game.
Reflecting on the game-winning moment, Tatum told reporters: "I'm still, like, in disbelief. That s*** was crazy.
"That felt like the longest 10 seconds ever waiting for confirmation if he made it or not."
White told TNT: "It had to be won. Whatever it takes, our backs against our wall, it just had to be won.
"We're a resilient group. We pick each other up, we bond for each other.
"The job isn't done yet, we've got a tough one Game 7, we've got to find a way to get one more win."
White had tears sparkling in his eyes, but explained: "I'm just happy. So far, so good."
It is just the second time in league history that a player has hit a buzzer-beater when his team was down and facing elimination, after Michael Jordan's legendary "The Shot", way back in 1989.
"Derrick White, like a flash of lightning, just came out of nowhere and saved the day, man," team-mate Jaylen Brown added. "An incredible play."
The Heat can only lick their wounds as they head to Boston for Monday's winner-takes-all matchup.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said: "It's a seven-game series. There's nothing better than Game 7s.
"I don't know how we're going to get this done, but we're going to go out there and get it done, and that's what the next 48 hours is about.
"There's been nothing easy about this season for our group, and so we just have to do it the hard way."
Jimmy Butler did his best for Miami, with 24 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.
"We've got to go on the road and do something special, but we've got a special group," Butler said.
Marta Kostyuk booed for not shaking Aryna Sabalenka’s hand in French Open defeat
Marta Kostyuk was booed off court after refusing to shake hands with Aryna Sabalenka at the end of her first-round French Open defeat.
There was particular interest in the opening clash of the tournament on Philippe Chatrier given Ukrainian Kostyuk has been the most outspoken critic both of allowing Russian and Belarusian players to continue competing and of athletes from those two countries for not speaking out against their nations.
Sabalenka knew Kostyuk would not shake her hand at the end of the match, and the Belarusian said in her pre-tournament press conference: “If she hates me, OK. I can’t do anything about that.”
The pair kept well apart ahead of the contest, not posing together for the usual pre-match picture, and at the end of the 6-3 6-2 victory for the second seed, Kostyuk walked to shake hands with the umpire before heading to her seat.
A section of the crowd began booing, startling Sabalenka, who appeared unsure whether the gesture was directed at her, but the fans then cheered for her before jeering Kostyuk when she walked off.
Sabalenka said: “It was a very tough match, tough emotionally. I didn’t know if the booing was against me but thank you so much for your support, it’s really important.”
The Australian Open champion is one of three big favourites for the women’s title along with defending champion Iga Swiatek and Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina.
She looked tight to start with and two double faults contributed to a loss of serve as Kostyuk took a 3-2 advantage in the first set.
But Sabalenka got back on level terms immediately and from there relaxed into the match, losing just two of the last 12 games.
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