The clock is ticking for French showman Gael Monfils if he is to avoid the label of the greatest unfulfilled tennis talent of his generation.
The 30-year-old is a contemporary of Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.
When Monfils won the first three junior grand slam titles of 2004 it seemed only a matter of time before he would be repeating that effort in the senior ranks.
Less than a year later, Nadal had won the first of his record nine French Open crowns.
One of the great careers was well and truly underway.
The succeeding 12 years for Monfils have provided plenty of snippets for the highlight reels - the most recent being an outrageous slam-dunk smash in his third-round victory at Melbourne Park on Saturday against German Philipp Kohlschreiber - but no majors.
But at least he's heading in the right direction.
Monfils reached only his second grand slam semi at least year's US Open before falling to Djokovic and entered the first manjor of 2017 ranked a career-high No.6 in the world.
Having stayed mostly off Broadway in winning his opening three matches at Melbourne Park for the loss of just one set, Monfils will move straight into the spotlight in Monday's fourth-round clash against Nadal, now with 14 majors to his name.
Monfils has only won two of his previous 14 encounters against the Spanish ironman and none since 2012.
The Frenchman is also 0-2 against Nadal in majors.
But there is no danger of Nadal taking the unpredictable Frenchman lightly.
"He had an amazing year last year," said Nadal of Monfils, after coming out on top in a five-set epic against German teen sensation Alexander Zverev.
"He started the season again playing very well.
"It's going to be a big, big match, a very tough one. I need to play my best."
The super-fit Nadal finally wore down Zverev mentally and physically in a round of 32 encounter that stretched beyond four hours.
He declined to speculate what effect that would have on his upcoming clash with Monfils.
"I am in the second week, so that's always a good preparation, no?" said Nadal.
"The bad news is if you are not in the second week.
"It doesn't matter how you arrive to the second week.
"If you are not injured, the most important thing is be there."
