Hidden in one of the many labyrinthine passages underneath Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena lies the players' cafeteria.
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Inside the buzzing room, impossibly tall and lean tennis players walk around holding plates piled high with fruit, vegetables and rice, and European accents fill the air.
Some are fresh from the court, dressed in tennis gear, their faces flushed, while others are barely recognisable in jeans and T-shirts.
World No. 19 Tomas Berdych is ambling around in search of lunch while Novak Djokovic's coach Andre Agassi is engaged in a serious discussion at one of the heaving tables.
Unlike the food stalls outside, you won't see hot chips smothered in tomato sauce here. Portion-controlled chunks of avocado, salmon and pasta dominate the plates of athletes at the height of their career.
Asif Mamun is the man responsible for this massive operation. Before the world's best tennis players go into battle, the cheerful Bangladeshi-born executive chef at Melbourne & Olympic Parks must make sure all their needs are met. And there are many needs.
What they eat, how much they eat, what time of day they eat it. Mamun must manage it all during the two-week tournament, in addition to feeding 65,000 other people and directing 300 staff.
Mamun has the unenviable task of catering for Australian Open staff, spectators, coaches, ball kids, media and the tennis players themselves, a group of people he says are incredibly diverse.
"Tennis is our life and we enjoy it but in terms of preparation, we couldn't do two tennis grand slams in one year because there are so many things behind the scenes in terms of planning and logistics," he says. "It's months of planning. This year we prepped 27 tonnes of meat."
"The tennis for us never stops really. We always breathe and live with tennis. Once we finish, we start again."
Catering for what Mamun calls "the top 10" - think Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, the Williams sisters, - is a big job. So big, the 38-year-old has assigned two specially-trained chefs to take care of their diets.
"Obviously there is a group of people who look after the players, their entourage, their managers. Pretty much all the top 10, I get the heads up on special diets, what time they want to eat, special food like after the match, before the match."
Rookies looking for arms like Nadal or powerhouse strength like Federer might google their diets, but it turns out the top 10 have incredibly varied needs.
"When I'm planning the menu, my main focus is who I'm writing the menu for. I try to maximise what ticks the boxes: the gluten-free, the vegan, the carbs. I have one or two chefs who have special skills with the dietary requirements, they're the ones looking after the top 10."
"Vegan players, gluten-free players - they are all different."
While discretion is key in Mamun's work, Novak Djokovic famously credits his strict gluten-free diet with his meteoric rise to world no.1 while Venus and Serena Williams try to follow a raw vegan diet during the tennis season.
"The majority of people have an impression that they don't eat carbs but they are the biggest carb lovers because they burn it very quickly.
"Potatoes, sweet potatoes - whatever I try to put on the plate is a boost of energy. All the quinoa, the grains, pumpkin, seeds, cheese - that's what really keeps them going because they burn calories like no day tomorrow."
"Their main aim is health. They need to be fit. They cannot get sick because that's what they're here for and food is a big part of their energy."
The most common items on the menu? Sweet potato, pumpkin, brown rice and salmon. "And fried chicken," he jokes.
"They eat quite frequently. We eat three times a day but they just stretch it out because they are just burning energy."
Mamun's days are long - regularly 14 hour stints, seven days a week - but he is a cool as a cucumber.
"I never had a plan when I came from Bangladesh to be a chef. Slowly I realised I was really missing my mother's touch, especially the food, so I started cooking. Before I realised, I had fallen in love with cooking. I never really looked back."
The chef's time is precious and he must be off. He bids us farewell and walks out of the cafeteria, smiling and surrounded by tennis superstars devouring his fare.