Even if he's stressed, Rafael Nadal will always thank the ballkids in "his nice little accent". Roger Federer is another player who is still polite under pressure.
Also well-mannered at Melbourne Park, according to the two top ballkids at the Australian Open, are Aussie stars Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua.
As part of their reward for being nominated as the best ballkids for the year, Sam McLachlan, 15, and Zoe Carr, 14, have been guaranteed spots working on Rod Laver Arena for both the men's and women's finals.
While their job sometimes seems like a thankless task on TV, they say it's so much more.
Sam says his favourite part of the job is "being able to go on court with these crazy good players, these world professional tennis players, and just being able to see into their world … how focused they are".
"It's so amazing," Zoe says. "You actually pick up so many tips off just being so close to the big players."
A calm, cool and collected attitude emanates from these teens when asked if it's tough to work for players at the height of stress, such as fellow teenager Nick Kyrgios, who was seen gesticulating rudely at the ballkids in his five-setter against Seppi.
"It's 'cos he was losing, so it's alright," says Zoe. "I would be angry too if I was him!"
Sam agrees. "If a player is losing, they're not going to be too thankful or too excited to ask for a towel."
For the record, the kids love it when the crowd has their back.
"If ballkids have a great catch, give a smile … then the crowd will applaud you," Sam says. "It's a really great feeling knowing that the crowd is behind you as well."
The friendliest player, according to both, is Nadal. "He's pretty amazing to ballkids," Zoe says. "He's so nice."
Sam says that even if Rafa's upset, he always says thanks "in his nice little accent he's got - it's great".
In his role as a 'net', one of Sam's responsibilities other than collecting balls is to pass drink bottles to the players. The 'bases', he says, are given the job of towel fetching - something that's surprising sought after.
"I hear them fight over it," he says. "They're giving a towel to the professional players - like, Rafa's towel."
Training to be a ballkid is long and intense. Trials for kids aged between 12 and 15 begin in May, with several training sessions and judging rounds whittling numbers down to the final group that front up to the following year's tournament.
Once the Open is underway, it's the men's final that ballkids strive for.
"That's all the kids talk about the whole time… To know that I've got a cemented spot, it's a pretty good feeling," Sam says.
"Seriously, to kids out there who want to play tennis or just be part of the experience," Zoe says, "it's so worth doing."
As a 15-year-old (turning 16 on Sunday) Sam has no choice but to retire from the ballkid squad after the tournament. However he'll be happy to go out with a finals bang.
"We can always go on and do other jobs and later become a ballkid supervisor. But, yeah, I'm a little sad about not being able to do it next year, I guess all things come to an end."
