At first glance they could be taken as weekend warriors trying to sneak into the Australian Open through the backdoor – Alison Bai works part-time in hospitality and James Frawley studies accounting.
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But dig a bit deeper and it's not hard to see why the pair are considered favourites to progress through Canberra's mixed doubles heats in the win-a-wildcard competition at Lyneham on Sunday.
World No.30 Nick Kyrgios flies Frawley around the world as his hitting partner, while Bai won her first professional tournament in Mildura earlier this year.
Frawley was a promising junior and left school halfway through Year 11 to travel the globe playing ITF junior tournaments.
But the 21-year-old decided to finish school and has almost completed his accounting degree.
He's not sure whether he'll pull on the suit and tie next year or return his focus to the tennis court.
"When I was younger in the juniors I was full-time then, I pretty much stopped going to school ... travelling internationally for junior events," Frawley said.
"Financially it's pretty tough and I decided I'd finish Year 12 off, get the schooling out of the way ... since going to uni it's kind of been a bit part-time for me.
"But I've still been practicing a lot with Nick when he's been back in town and we played doubles in Malaysia in a pro event a couple of weeks ago.
"He's had me on the road a little bit this year – I went down to the Australian Open and over to Wimbledon, Queens and then we went to Asia."
Bai asked Frawley if he wanted to have a crack at the wildcard and the pair are looking forward to the Canberra leg.
If they get through then it's down to Melbourne in December, where they'll be up against the winners from the other states trying to win a spot in the Australian Open.
At 25, Bai had adjusted her expectations and felt a more relaxed approach had paid off with her first pro win.
While it might be a glamorous life at the pointy end of the world rankings, at world No.328 it's a different story.
In a good week – playing in places like Toowoomba, Launceston and Port Pirie – Bai manages to make ends meet. In a bad one, not so much.
"Obviously now being a lot older, a lot of my friends have got full-time jobs and I'm still playing tennis," she said.
"If I didn't love it, I'd be making some money and doing something else, whereas being out of pocket every week is not the nicest thing to do."
