Rafael Nadal's retirement is edging ever closer and emotions will be running high these next few weeks as the Spaniard bids farewell to Roland Garros - a tournament which has become synonymous with his career.
The injury issues that Nadal managed to repeatedly battle through have finally caught up with the sport's answer to the Duracell bunny.
He announced last year that 2024 would be his final season on tour before retiring as he planned a final swansong in front of his adoring fans.
Making sure he was able to play Roland Garros one final time was always going to be Nadal's main aim given his dominance at the major.
It's set to be an emotional affair and Nadal has promised to leave it all out there on the court when he makes his return to Philippe-Chatrier.
“I’m going to play the tournament thinking that I can give my all, 100 per cent,” he said.
Rafael Nadal will play in his final French Open this week
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“And if 100 per cent is not enough to win a match, I’ll accept that.
"But I don’t want to step onto court knowing that I have no chance.
"If there’s a 0.01 per cent chance, I want to explore that and give it a go.”
No player - male or female - has come close to his level of supremacy at a single major tournament and nor will anyone likely ever repeat it in the future.
Novak Djokovic is the master of Melbourne having won 10 Australian Open titles, but the 'King of Clay' stands in a league of his own.
The Serbian tennis superstar may well go down as the greatest player of all time but there's arguably not been a more important player in men's tennis than Nadal in the modern era.
He was the man who first emerged as the one true rival to Roger Federer as the pair struck up one of sport's greatest rivalries.
The 2008 Wimbledon final still lives on as arguably the greatest tennis match ever played as Nadal ended Federer's five-year winning streak.
And Nadal was still tearing up the record books as recently as 2022 when he pulled off one of the most miraculous comebacks to defeat Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final.
But the signs were there that the end was near for Nadal as his withdrawals from tournaments grew more frequent.
That opened the door for Djokovic to move ahead in the all-time Grand Slam list as others failed to step up in the absence of Nadal.
But it remains to be seen who exactly can step up and replace the kind of popularity and audience Nadal would bring to men's tennis.
Rafael Nadal won his 14th French Open title in 2022
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Carlos Alcaraz has proven capable of doing so as his epic Wimbledon final win over Djokovic last year captured the imagination of millions.
However, the 21-year-old has been dealing with his own injury issues that have stagnated his progress.
Jannik Sinner is living up to expectations after picking up his first Grand Slam title at this year's Australian Open.
Alcaraz and Sinner are rightfully being tipped as the future of men's tennis and the pair are both showing signs that they could be at the start of a budding rivalry.
Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev were part of the original Next Gen
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But there's more questions than answers on whether they can truly replace the gaping hole that Nadal will eventually leave in men's tennis.
There is usually a natural successor already in place when a sporting icon calls time on their illustrious careers.
LeBron James was already the face of the NBA by the time Kobe Bryant retired from the sport in 2016 while Federer was a nine-time major champion when Andre Agassi hung up his racket.
Alcaraz and Sinner are close, but neither have truly taken the sport to another level like their predecessors.
Carlos Alcaraz looks most likely to be Rafael Nadal's natural successor
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Patrick McEnroe spotted the worrying trend three years ago as he felt the next generation of players weren't 'moving the needle' as much as the 'Big Three'.
“The larger issue for tennis if I put on my ESPN hat and former U.S.T.A. hat is that, let’s be honest, these young guys at the moment are not moving the needle for tennis the same way the older guys have,” he said in 2021.
“They are not selling tickets the first week of the US Open the same way that Nadal, Federer and Djokovic have been doing.”
The generation of players before Sinner and Alcaraz - Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev - failed to truly challenge Nadal and Djokovic.
Patrick McEnroe raised his doubts about the next generation three years ago
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Nadal will bring his illustrious career to an end this year with attention soon turning to Djokovic.
Once the world No 1 chooses to retire from the sport then a new era will be underway.
Nadal's French Open farewell is one final opportunity to celebrate his legacy at Roland Garros.
But this day has been coming for many years with no clear answer to who will lead the next era of men's tennis and that's troubling for the immediate future of the sport.
