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Tenacious American Jennifer Brady hasn't always felt destined to make a grand slam final, and certainly not while holed up in hard quarantine only last month.
FaceTiming and feasting on oats and Uber Eats, not Netflix, was the key to Jennifer Brady surviving two weeks in full lockdown before her incredible surge to the Australian Open final.
Defying the doubters, and even her own pre-Open expectations, Brady will stare down Naomi Osaka in Saturday night's title match at Melbourne Park barely three weeks after emerging from 14 days in hard hotel quarantine.
None of the other 50 singles players who endured the same ordeal even made it beyond round three.
Many moaned, others despaired and Aussie Ellen Perez claimed no one could possibly challenge for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after a fortnight confined to their rooms with no fresh air.
Not Brady.
Without complaint, the American accepted her fate after a fellow passenger on her charter flight to Australia tested positive to COVID-19, forcing them all into strict quarantine.
Instead of being able to train up to five hours a day like most of her rivals, Brady used an exercise bike, a super strong will and a steady supply of Uber Eats to stay in the fight.
"The first day I got there I had grocery delivery, so I had oats delivered. Every morning I would have oats, oatmeal and then I would actually order Uber Eats for lunch and dinner every single day," she said.
"So I didn't eat one of the meals that were provided. I ordered Hunky Dory the first seven days, every single day, sometimes twice a day.
"I'm a creature of habit, so I eat pretty much the same thing every single day. There were three places I would mix it up between."
But TV was out.
"I actually 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.
"I actually spent a lot of time on FaceTime. I was FaceTiming lot with other players that were in the quarantine.
"Sloane Stephens I was FaceTiming every single day with Anett (Kontaveit) and Maria (Sakkari).
"We had like a group FaceTime. That made the time go by really quick.
"Yeah, I think it was more just trying to stay positive and know that there is worse things out there than being in a room."
A graduate of the Chris Evert Tennis Academy in Florida, Brady didn't always feel destined for the top.
"I didn't really have great success in the juniors. I wasn't really winning many matches, so that also takes a hit at your confidence," the 25-year-old said.
"The other juniors my age were doing really well and having success and having early success in the pros and playing challenger events and winning them and doing really well. And then I wasn't even passing first, second round of qualifying.
But, with "nothing else to do", and without "the brains of the family" she said her twin sister possessed, Brady stuck with tennis - and is forever grateful for Evert sticking solid too.
"Chrissie messages me every now and then a lot. She is somebody who has seen me since I was 10, 11 years old. So she's probably known me the longest out here," Brady said.
"Yeah, it's awesome to have someone like her in your corner, supporting you and cheering for you. And I definitely respect her and I appreciate everything that she's done for me."
While it took Brady much longer to bloom, her Open final opponent flourished much earlier, Osaka making her maiden grand slam final - and beating the great Serena Williams for the 2018 US Open title - at only 20.
"Actually, we grew up playing junior local tournaments in Florida," Brady said of her decade-long rivalry with the US-based Japanese prodigy.
"Both her and her sister I played in the juniors, local, like, Super Series events, just like USTA-sanctioned tournaments.
"I remember playing her in this tournament, it may have been like a lower-level challenger event. She was just coming up maybe inside the top 200, and I remember playing her.
"I was, like, 'Wow, she hits the ball huge. She's gonna be good'.
"I was, like, 'Okay, she's got something special'."
It's clear now that Brady has, too.
