Australia's tennis stars have rallied round Maya Joint in her bid to topple the great Serena Williams, believing the 20-year-old self-styled "Ginger Ninja" has every chance in a match that, in truth, nobody really knows how to call.
The Aussie men's No.1 Alex de Minaur admitted that the advice for the quiet, understated US-born Aussie to treat Tuesday's (Wednesday AEST) centre court contest against the returning 44-year-old legend Williams as 'just another match' was "easier said than done."
But he has faith in Joint's unflappable temperament, feeling she's in with a real chance if she can get off to a quick start against a mother-of-two who's not had a singles contest in nearly four years.
"We trust in our Ginger," laughed Aussie import Daria Kasatkina on Saturday as the buzz around the biggest Wimbledon first-round match at the All England Club for as long as anyone could remember continued apace.
She was referring to Joint's jokey reference to herself as the "Ginger Ninja", the moniker which she uses on Instagram.
French Open champion Mirra Andreeva was not alone in admitting she wouldn't have wanted to be in Joint's shoes as the player drawn to face the 23-time grand slam winner.
But while everyone was hailing Williams comeback as a boon for tennis, Kasatkina summed up the general feeling when she laughed: "I don't know what to say about this match because it's impossible to predict anything.
"We are gonna witness a really, really special situation, and I hope Maya is going to enjoy it, because she's this lucky person who got to be on the court. I think she's going to enjoy it."
But when asked if she would enjoy being in Joint's shoes, Kasatkina had to laugh: "No. For sure not - but I hope Maya will."
Kasatkina had been practising on the court alongside Williams earlier at Aorangi Park on Saturday, and noted: "I mean, her skill is there, the serve is still flying the same like it used to fly 30 years ago, so it's gonna be difficult, but it's very difficult to predict anything."
De Minaur was reminded of his early taste of playing a legend at Wimbledon back in 2018, when Rafael Nadal schooled him 6-1 6-2 6-4, as he also did the following year at the Australian Open.
Asked what advice he'd offer his women's counterpart as Aussie No.1, even though Joint will plummet to No.4 when the next rankings come out following her recent slump, de Minaur just smiled.
"The words of advice you hear so often is 'treat it as any other match, any other opponent'. It's easier said than done, right? That's just the reality of it."
Admitting the youngster was being thrown into a situation that "very few people can cope with", he still recalled how impressed he was by Joint's temperament when playing alongside her in the season-launching United Cup.
"Maya is a terrific competitor. I've got no doubt that she'll go out there and compete, and it's just hopefully she can settle in quickly."
