French Open Final: Rafael Nadal vs Casper Ruud is overlord vs underdog

Casper Ruud in the French Open final on Sunday. Own the evening or be overwhelmed by it. The 23-year-old goes up against his idol - the 13-time champion Rafael Nadal - in what'll be the pair's first tango. Ruud, who is in his first major final, has watched, not surprisingly, all 13 of the Spaniard's stunning triumphs at Roland Garros. He even revealed the opponents the Spaniard overcame, stopping just short of reciting scorelines. The Norwegian, who has stacked up a number of firsts for his country this week, trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, where the duo have stood across the net from each other several times to play practice sets.

"He has always beaten me, there have been some close sets like 7-6, 7-5, but it always goes in his favor," Ruud said, before adding, "It's because we are playing in the academy and I want to be nice to him. You are the guest, you need to be a nice guest." "He's playing for his 22nd Grand Slam. I'm playing for my first. I'm the underdog and we will just enjoy the moment," the 23-year-old said. Ruud, an eight-time Tour-level titlist, could use Sunday's dank conditions to his advantage. The roof will likely be rolled over Court Philippe Chatrier, recreating the humid setting the Spaniard didn't delight in in his truncated semifinal against Alexander Zverev, where he appeared spent at the half-way mark of the 3-hours in the middle.

"The ball was super big and difficult to create spin on," Nadal said of his outing on Friday. "The conditions were not ideal for me. That's why I was not able to create the damage. In these heavy conditions, my ball is not creating the impact that it normally creates. My ball was not bouncing as usual." Nadal, favoured to take his Grand Slam tally to 22,