Jarrod, 14, and Anthony, 13, along with 300 other children from around Australia and the Asia Pacific region, were selected to take part as Aviva Ballkids at one of the country's biggest sporting events.

Thousands of children, aged 12-15, tried out to become a ballkid by going through an application process involving practice sessions throughout November and December.

The hopeful contenders were tested for their fitness, ball skills and more importantly, their attitude to the role they would play during the tennis tournament.

After Jarrod and Anthony, who both play for Narre Warren Tennis Club, entered their details on an online application form, they were asked to show their skills to Aviva supervisors.

"The training sessions were about an hour-and-a-half to two hours long and we learnt about hand and eye coordination, which roles we'd have to do and how to be around the players," Jarrod says.

"I heard that being a ballkid was a good experience and thought that if I didn't try out this year, I'd only have one more year to have the chance."

The boys hope to one day be good enough to play in the Australian Open, but agree they have a lot of hard work to do.

"It's a long road - I guess you never know though," Jarrod says.

"At the moment, I'd like to win small tournaments and give it a real go and see how good I can be."

"I hope to play in the Open one day very much, but in saying that I don't want to jinx myself," adds Anthony.

The pair were lucky enough to be a ballkid on show court two, and say that it was a major highlight for them both.

"I got to work during the Marat Safin game and that was really great," Jarrod says.

"I worked during a doubles match with Lindsay Davenport. The show court is a lot bigger so your ball rolling has to be faster. But seeing Lindsay play was very exciting - she's very tall. It was a real highlight seeing her play because she's one of the best female players in the world," Anthony says.