The all-Australian mixed doubles duo of Olivia Gadecki and John Peers are one match away from a record not achieved at the Australian Open since 1989.
Asked by Tennis Australia’s social media team to guess some of their teammate’s off-court traits in a game of “How well do you know your doubles partner”, Olivia Gadecki laughed.
“I actually don’t know you that well,” she said of John Peers, the other half of the pairing attempting to become the first to defend an Australian Open mixed doubles title in 37 years.
Not that you would know it by watching them play.
The pair seem to share a telepathic on-court connection, though that undersells their excellent communication skills and high tennis IQs, with Gadecki’s strong serve dovetailing beautifully with Peers’ dominance at the net.
The all-Australian duo overcame fourth seeds Taylor Townsend and Nicola Mektic in a super tiebreak on Wednesday 7-6(2) 2-6 [13-11] to advance to a second consecutive final at Melbourne Park.
“From the word go, we’ve gelled really well,” Peers said after their semifinal win.
“We haven't really forced anything. And that's made it really easy for both of us.
“I feel like you just got to be clear on the way you communicate and the way you sort of look after each other out there.
“We’ve done a great job to be able to respond for each other and … to be able to play good tennis when we've needed to.
The pair have overcome their fair share of challenges this week, including multiple match tiebreaks.
Their secret?
“Just hanging around,” Gadecki said with a smile.
“Because [Peers] always says, ‘Oh, we got to hang around long enough, you know, we will get our chance’.”
“There's been times, especially last two matches, where we've kept hanging around and we've had our chances and we grabbed it.”
The Australians are vying to become the first mixed team to go back-to-back at the Australian Open since Jim Pugh and Jana Novotna did it in 1988 and 1989.
Standing in their way is French duo Kristina Mladenovic and Manuel Guinard, who will be no easy task having bundled out the seconds seeds in their semifinal.
A win would further enshrine Peers into Australian doubles folklore, having captured three Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal in a 15-year senior professional career.
Though for now, he’s firmly focused on Friday’s day session showdown on Rod Laver Arena.
“[Those achievements are] something I really don't try and look back on too much and try and stay in the moment, enjoy what we're doing,” a modest Peers said.
For Gadecki, it would represent another early-season milestone for the 23-year-old, having scored the biggest singles win of her career against world No.37 Ann Li at the Brisbane International earlier this month.
Whatever the result, there’s no doubt the pair will relish a heavily partisan crowd in their shot at history.
“To be able to play in front of friends and families in big stadiums … it doesn't get any better,” Peers said.
“And I'm lucky enough now I've got kids that get to experience that and get to see what happens out there.
“Hopefully we can get as many Aussies out there as we can.”