Jennifer Brady is on texting terms with an all-time great, told the world her twin sister is "a nerd" in a news conference, and refuelled with twice-daily orders of takeaway food during her Melbourne quarantine.
Naomi Osaka is commanding almost all the attention, but the 'other' Australian Open women's finalist is a peppy character who could head home to the United States next week as a grand slam winner for the first time.
She reached the US Open semi-finals last year too, and has now become the eighth American woman to reach the final of a singles major in the 21st century.
We should talk more about her.
So who's her famous friend?
Brady was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and moved with her family to Florida as a nine-year-old, but "not for tennis".
Sucks to that. At the age of 10 she joined Chris Evert's academy in Boca Raton, learning the ways of the 18-time grand slam winner.
But Brady admits she "had a bit of a temper as a kid" and lacked mental sturdiness, which might just be why it has taken her until the age of 25 to make a major breakthrough.
Evert recognised her talent from an early age though.
"Chrissie messages me every now and then a lot," said Brady. "She is somebody who has seen me since I was 10, 11 years old. So she's probably known me the longest out here.
"It's awesome to have someone like her in your corner, supporting you and cheering for you."
Why haven't we heard about Brady before?
All sports have sliding doors moments and if Michael Geserer had not come into Brady's life, who is to say she would have scaled such heights as these.
Coach Geserer was nudged Brady's way in 2019 by a mutual acquaintance, American coach Billy Heiser, and her career has been on an upwards trajectory ever since.
A promising junior but an unfulfilled talent as a professional, Brady was approaching her mid-20s and searching for direction.
She had already taken the college route into professional sport, playing at the University of California, Los Angeles. Doing so gave initial life to a career that could have been lost to the drip, drip pain of one painful defeat after another while still a junior.
As Brady recalled: "I took a hit there and thought, 'OK, maybe I'm not meant for this sport. Maybe I'm not good enough. I'll go to college for four years and then I'll find a real job.'"
What happened next?
From 55th in the world at the end of 2019, Brady leapt to 24th after the abridged 2020 season. Now the top 10 is beckoning. Her game is suddenly dynamite.
Geserer is German, and Brady took a leap of faith by leaving Florida behind from July to December last year to train in her coach's favoured environment, teaching herself to handle homesickness.
"Once you become too comfortable, I think that's when you're in trouble," Brady said. "Going over and training in Germany, at times I might be, like, 'OK, I wish I was home'. But other times, I'm like, 'OK, it's worth it'.
"I have to do what I have to do to become the best tennis player right now and then afterwards I can live my life."
What. A. Quote. And here's another...
Brady has a twin, Jessica. On Thursday, Jessica copped one in a Melbourne Park news conference.
Asked whether her sister plays tennis at all, Brady was cheekily brutal, saying that Jessica "gave up" and explaining: "She's a nerd. She studies. She's in medical school. So she has the brains and I have the athletic genes."
Everything's Hunky Dory with Brady
Hunky Dory is at the classier end of Melbourne's takeaway outlets, and Brady makes no bones about declaring she would order takeout from there while in hard quarantine before the Australian Open began.
Confined to a hotel bedroom for a fortnight, Brady called in orders for "the first seven days, every single day, sometimes twice a day".
But if delicious deliveries of fast food were on the menu, fast fixes of entertainment emphatically were not.
"I didn't watch one Netflix series just because I knew if I started something then I wouldn't want to do anything else except just lay in bed and watch Netflix," Brady said.
She knows Osaka is 'magnificent'
Why deny it? Brady first faced Osaka on the professional tour at a tiny $50,000 event in New Braunfels, Texas, in 2014.
She beat the 17-year-old Osaka that day but has lost both their encounters since. It was Osaka, on her way to a third grand slam title, who ended Brady's US Open run last September.
When a reporter asked Brady at last year's US Open, 'Obviously Naomi is magnificent. What makes her so magnificent?', Brady slung out a raft of compliments.
And this week she cast her mind back to that 2014 clash, recalling: "I was, like, 'Wow, she hits the ball huge. She's gonna be good. OK, she's got something special.'"
She's not afraid to be afraid, but she's going to own any fears
Brady knows Saturday's final is a big deal and it is not her nature to spout "just another game" cliches, as some might.
"I'll definitely be nervous 100 per cent, but there is no hiding it. I just have to embrace it and enjoy the moment," she said. "I think I have earned the right to be sitting here, to be playing in a final, in a grand slam final."
She wants to find focus and to make the biggest moment of her career even bigger. That's now the Jennifer Brady way.
"But there's gonna be moments, there's gonna be games, there's gonna be points where I'm going to be thinking about, 'Wow, this could be my first grand slam title," Brady said. "I will definitely have those thoughts."
Djokovic recovers from slow start to move past Michelsen on Shanghai return
Novak Djokovic marked his Shanghai Masters return with a hard-fought straight-sets win over Alex Michelsen.
The four-time champion, who is appearing in this event for the first time since 2019, required two tie-breaks before prevailing 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (11-9) in just under two hours.
Djokovic, still donning a protective sleeve over his right knee, made a slow start in only his second match since losing to Alexei Popyrin in the US Open third round, winning just four points in the first three games as he fell 4-1 behind.
However, the 24-time major winner broke back in the seventh game before dominating the tie-break for first blood.
Roles were reversed in the second set as Michelsen cancelled out an earlier break in game seven.
However, the American squandered two set points to level and was eventually punished by Djokovic, who will play either 28th seed Flavio Cobolli or three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka in the next round.
Data Debrief: Djokovic continues American dominance
Djokovic was given an early scare, but his experience eventually showed as he came through.
Including team events, the Serb has now won his last 33 ATP-level matches against American opponents, with his last such defeat coming against Sam Querrey at Wimbledon in 2016.
The 24-time major winner also demonstrated his determination when the pressure intensified, and he has now come through 12 of his 16 tie-breaks played this season.
Gauff fights back to beat Badosa in China Open semi-finals
Coco Gauff recovered from a set and a break down to reach the China Open final with a 4-6 6-4 6-2 victory over Paula Badosa on Saturday.
Having given up an early break in the opener, Gauff got one of her own by converting her eighth break point in a mammoth eighth game featuring 10 deuces, only for Badosa to hit back immediately to go a set up.
Gauff lost serve immediately in the second set to go on the back foot, only to level the match with back-to-back breaks, the second of them to love.
The decider began with a series of breaks, Gauff taking two of them as the momentum swung her way, then she protected her lead all the way to reach her first final since winning January's Auckland Open.
The 20-year-old is the youngest player to reach the women's singles final at the China Open since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
She has fought from a set down to win in each of her last three matches, the first time she has done so in her career. She is the first player to do so in WTA-1000 events since Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells 2022.
Data Debrief: Gauff brings up century
Saturday's match was Gauff's 100th at WTA 1000-level events, and her 67th such victory.
Among American players, only Serena Williams (87), Venus Williams and Jessica Pegula (70) have bettered her 67 wins through their first 100 matches at such events.
Alcaraz beats home favourite Shang in Shanghai opener
Carlos Alcaraz began his Shanghai Open campaign with a straight-sets win over China's Shang Juncheng, bringing up his 10th straight victory.
Just three days on from his epic victory over Jannik Sinner in the China Open final, Alcaraz recorded a 6-2 6-2 win over Shang inside one hour and 17 minutes.
The four-time grand slam winner wasted no time by breaking in the very first game of the encounter, then repeated the trick six games later to take the opener, avoiding any pressure as he won 82% of his first-serve points.
Alcaraz produced the shot of the match early in the second set, producing a brilliant backhand flick to salvage a point while backtracking from the net.
Back-to-back breaks midway through the second set sealed Alcaraz's 10th straight victory, after which he hailed the performance of his 19-year-old opponent.
"I'm not used to playing against players younger than me," Alcaraz said. "He has been playing good tennis lately, winning his first ATP title [in Chengdu], so I'm pretty sure he's going to climb the rankings.
"At the net he told me that it's a pleasure share the court with you. So these kinds of things that I hear from younger players, it's great."
Data Debrief: Double figures for Alcaraz
Alcaraz's victory was his 10th in succession since he suffered a shock second-round defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp at the US Open in August.
He will face another Chinese player in the next round, taking on world number 560 Wu Yibing.
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