Jannik Sinner and Emma Navarro have plenty in common. Both are incredibly successful tennis players in their early 20s, both have had deep runs at Wimbledon but want more, and both have focused almost all their tennis energy so far on singles.
At the US Open in August, they will play doubles together. On Friday, they spoke for the very first time in their lives.
“It was very unexpected to be honest,” Italian world number one Sinner told reporters at the All England Club, when asked about the partnership. “I just met her on Friday for the first time. We’d never talked or texted each other.”
This year’s US Open mixed doubles is being held as a standalone event on 19-20 August before the hard-court Grand Slam begins on 24 August, a move by the United States Tennis Association which said it hoped would attract more high-profile singles players.
Sinner and Navarro are one of several eye-catching pairings who have been put together for the tournament where British number one Emma Raducanu and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz are also due to join forces.
The general presumption in doubles is that the better you know a person, the better you play together.
But Sinner and Navarro can take confidence from the examples of unexpected pairings going on to win slams.
For instance Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen won the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles title despite never playing together before the tournament and colliding with each other several times during the final.
“The tournament kind of wanted us to play together because certain teams were already set up,” Sinner explained at Wimbledon, where he faces fellow Italian Luca Nardi in the first round on Tuesday.
“The choice was not big but I’m very happy to play with Emma. I told her already to not get frustrated with me for my not-very-good volleys.”
He then joked: “I hope [we meet up] before the first time we walk out on court.”