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Four years ago Casper Ruud was honing his skills as a teenage rookie at the Rafael Nadal Academy in Majorca.

On Sunday the 23-year-old Norwegian will face his mentor, the 21-time Grand Slam champion, in the French Open final.

Ruud has never faced 36-year-old Nadal in a competitive match, but the pair have played plenty of times on the practice court.

Eighth seed Ruud admitted: “We have played some practice sets, and he has always pretty much beaten me.

“There’s been some close sets, 7-6, 7-5, but it always goes his favour. But it’s because we are playing in the academy and I want to be nice to him.”

Ladies and gentlemen, your #RolandGarros final!

Como en casa, @RafaelNadal & @CasperRuud98!

#RafaNadalAcademy pic.twitter.com/0j0V2Z21fD

— Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar (@rnadalacademy) June 3, 2022

Nadal has an unblemished record in Roland Garros finals, having won all 13 that he has reached.

Mariano Puerta, Roger Federer, Robin Soderling, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem have all tried, and failed, to knock the king of clay off his throne.

“I probably watched all of them,” added Ruud. “I think I could probably tell you all the finals and who he has played and who he has beaten, because I watched them all on TV.

“It’s going be amazing to be there myself when you have seen players like Puerta, Federer, Djokovic, Thiem, all the guys who have played him