The pair were childhood doubles partners and faced each other many times in singles but their careers took divergent courses before reconvening at the Australian Open

In the quiet mountainous Czech town of Roznov pod Radhostem, home to only 16,000 people, some of the best junior players under the age of 12 in Europe converged in February 2013 for the prestigious European Indoor Championships, a team event also known as the Winter Cup. After three days of competition, the final round between Great Britain and Serbia went down to the wire in a decisive doubles rubber before Jack Draper and Jacob Fearnley emerged victorious over Kristijan Juhas and Mihailo Popovic in two tight sets.

In the early days the paths of Draper and Fearnley were intertwined. They first met when they were about 10 years old and their first battle came under an inflatable indoor bubble on the green clay courts of the Gosling Sports Park in Welwyn Garden City, just as they were making the transition from the softer junior balls to fully pressurised yellow balls.