All business, Maya Joint hopes to feed off the partisan crowd as the top home women's hope lands firmly in the spotlight for her Australian Open opener in Melbourne.
Seeded for the first time at a grand slam, the 19-year-old will be among eight Australians in action on day three of the Open.
The 30th seed takes on Czech world No.54 Tereza Valentova for the first time.
"I've never played Tereza before so I think it should be a good match. I just have to take a look at some of her other matches, see how she plays and what she does," Joint said.
While her opponent is unknown, one thing Joint can be certain of is the crowd will have her back on John Cain Arena.
The US-born teenager has quickly become a fan favourite after rocketing up the rankings from outside the world's top 100 last year on the back of a breakout two-title season.
Joint is Australia's first female seed at Melbourne Park since Ash Barty took home the trophy as top seed in 2022.
The single-minded, sunglasses-wearing star admits she needs to embrace the home support more, rather than "block out the noise".
"I'm trying to work more on drawing from the crowd and getting more involved with them. It's not one of my strengths being that loud on court, but I'm trying to be a bit better at that," she told AAP.
"(Usually) I just keep my head down."
Joint and in-form wildcard Taylah Preston - who plays China's Zhang Shuai - are the first two Australians on court on Tuesday.
Daria Kasatkina, Kim Birrell, qualifiers Dane Sweeny and Maddison Inglis and wildcards Chris O'Connell and James Duckworth are also in action.
In her first AO match since switching allegiance from Russia to Australia last year, Kasatkina plays Czech Nikola Bartunkova.
Birrell and Inglis clash in the only all-Aussie first-round affair, while O'Connell starts against American qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy.
Sweeny plays French veteran Gael Monfils and Duckworth opens his 17th AO campaign against Croatian qualifying lucky loser Dino Prizmic.
Of the heavyweights, American ninth seed Madison Keys launches her women's title defence in the day's opening match on Rod Laver Arena against Ukraine's Oleksandar Olinynkokva.
Two-time winner Naomi Osaka and in-form Swiss 10th seed Belinda Bencic also feature on the women's side.
Men's titleholder and second seed Jannik Sinner also opens his campaign in prime time on Tuesday night, against Frenchman Hugo Baston.
