They could be offering a towel to world number one Ash Barty or throwing balls to the legendary Roger Federer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Three south-west teenagers are looking forward to helping out the superstars of the Australian Open for the first time.
Camperdown's Grace Bone, 14, was watching Australian Nick Kyrgios play at the Open last year when she was inspired to become a ballkid.
"We go to the tennis every year," she said.
"When I was watching Kyrgios one round, we started talking about the ballkids and signing up.
"I'm very excited, I can't wait to see what it's going to be like and experience everything."
The Mercy Regional College student also loves playing the game and takes lessons at Warrnambool Indoor Tennis Centre.
READ MORE:
She plays A grade at Cobden District Tennis Association and women's night tennis at Camperdown.
Hamilton's Charlotte Millear, 14, was watching the Open on TV when she decided to give it a go.
"I really like my tennis and I was just watching TV and thought I'd have a go given I was at the right age for it," she said.
Candidates need to be aged 12 to 15 years to take on the role at the Open.
The Hamilton and Alexandra College student can't wait to see what happens behind the scenes.
"You need to have good concentration and be a quick learner to pick up the skills like rolling and serving the players," she said.
The Hamilton Lawn Tennis Club player is also a member of the South West Academy of Sport.
Warrnambool's Emily Mahony said Charlotte helped motivate her to go for the role.
"My brother did it a while back and he said it was really fun," Emily said.
"I was thinking of doing it then but I didn't really know anyone and I was scared to do it by myself."
But Emily pushed her fear aside at a regional tennis tournament last summer.
The Emmanuel College student was playing with Charlotte who had already signed up to be a ballkid.
"I thought I may as well give it a go, I was like 'if I have Charlotte there it'll probably be easier'," she said.
Emily plays junior pennant at Warrnambool Lawn Tennis Club.
The south-west trio made the final team of 360 Australian Open ballkids which was cut from a giant pool of more than 2500 applicants.
The group includes 38 ballkids from overseas coming from Korea, China, India and France.
The trio will start their duties on Monday and the Open runs from January 20 to February 2.
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.
