An Australian schoolgirl sees Novak Djokovic in the gym and thinks to herself, ‘should I? Should I really interrupt arguably the GOAT in the middle of his exercise to introduce myself?’

Bugger it. Why not?

“Hi Novak, I’m Tahlia.”

Djokovic stopped and swivelled around, getting to know Tahlia Kokkinis before the rest of the world will learn about her tennis trajectory.

For the next 15 minutes, the pair chatted, at ease. Djokovic wanted to know all about her career so far. He spoke about never giving up on your dreams.

As for the rest…

“I can’t remember all of it because I was mesmerised by meeting him,” Kokkinis laughs. “It was just an amazing experience to meet Novak. He was so down to earth. After all of his accomplishments, he was so humble and he wanted to listen to everything. He was a really nice guy.”

Kokkinis took her chance meeting with Djokovic thanks to a year in which she has played either qualifying or the main draw at all four junior grand slams.

At the Australian Open, she rode a wildcard all the way to the quarter-finals in front of huge Melbourne Park crowds, and also won main draw matches at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Unfailingly polite, it’s easier to be impressed by Kokkinis’ off-court demeanour than her on-court feats, wiping out older rivals at the Wagga Wagga Tennis International #2 this week as she starts stepping out of juniors.

Her cosmopolitan background is one she revels in. “I’m very proud of my heritage,” she says.

Her grandparents migrated to Australia from Greece. Tahlia was born in the regional NSW town of Lithgow in the shadows of the Blue Mountains to parents Sam and Christina.

Kokkinis had a racquet in her hand by the age of three. When Sam and Christina wanted a new life away from Sydney and its surrounds, they moved north to set up home in Brisbane.

Sam has a background in sports science while working as a PE teacher, and Christina has also been in education system for more than two decades, now working as a deputy principal.

Yet tennis might not have been Tahlia’s first love, or even best sport.

“Golf might have been first, and I was doing swimming as well,” she says. “I think I was quite good at golf.

“But I sort of gravitated towards tennis because I liked it. I like quick, fast-twitched sports. Maybe golf was a bit slow and swimming was a bit repetitive for me. I liked tennis and it’s something I’ve always had a passion for.”

The importance of schooling is not lost on them or Kokkinis, who has spent recent years undertaking flexible online education as she travels the world as one of Australia’s top juniors, reaching as high as 31 in the world.

Last month, she turned 17. As her frizzy hair bobs up and down like a cork in the ocean as she crashes balls back across the net from the baseline, it’s hard to comprehend one so young has already achieved so much, winning her first W15 event in Tunisia in June to add to major J200 titles in France and Sydney in the past year.

“I think age is just a number in tennis,” Kokkinis says. “Now, you see a lot of the younger generation coming through like Alcaraz and Sinner.

“When you’re in the moment, you don’t think about age. You think about, ‘what’s working well?’ Anyone at any age can beat anyone.”

Kokkinis had two invaluable experiences against Great Britain’s Katie Swan, a player who was previously on the cusp of the world’s top 100 before a chronic back injury, during the first two professional events ever played in Wagga Wagga over the past fortnight.

Winning matches will help her ranking, bit it might also help attract the financial support to allow one of the country’s top prospects chase the dreams Djokovic urged her to do.

“Right now it’s tough when you’re always travelling and you have accommodation, food and it would always be great to have that support,” she says. “I’m going to throw everything into tennis and see how it goes.”