Four years ago, Mikael Ymer stood alongside his father against the green waist-high canvas separating the public from the match court at Roehampton.
Across the barrier, big brother Elias was celebrating having just qualified for his Wimbledon main draw debut.
The 16-year-old Mikael was elated by his brother’s triumph. But he too was a promising Swedish junior with unbridled dreams of contesting Grand Slams. The vision had been instilled.
On Wednesday, the younger Ymer closed to within one victory of matching his brother’s achievement with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory over a player with a history of success on grass, Dustin Brown.
“For sure I was thinking a little bit about it,” Ymer said of seeing his brother qualify in 2015. “I brought that motivation into the juniors too. I was very happy for him but also got very motivated.
“To see him qualify both in Australia and here definitely got me excited for the future and I’m here, I’m competing with the best in qualies. It’s a good step for me.”
Germany’s Brown – still best known for beating Rafael Nadal on grass at Halle in 2014 and at Wimbledon in 2015 – had less than a fortnight ago made a run to the Stuttgart quarter-finals.
It was on home turf he had taken down his top-seeded compatriot, Alexander Zverev.
Ymer may not have notched the same grass court success leading in, but he had won through qualifying at Roland-Garros last month when he won his first Grand Slam main draw match.
That run set a benchmark. But it was a mark which the careful-thinking 20-year-old was wary of dwelling on for too long.
“That’s the normal pattern of the brain to take that path of thinking. Anything that doesn’t match that is not so good, you put that expectation on yourself,” Ymer said.
“But, to be honest, I try to tell myself that, OK, instead of comparing to just what I did, to compare where I’m coming from.
“It’s my first time playing Wimbledon [qualifying], that’s just a big honour. I just take this tournament for what it is. If you compare every tournament to your best one, it’s going to be a tough career so I’m very excited it was a very good win today and I don’t take reaching the final round for granted.”
With such humility, it is little wonder Ymer would not consider himself top dog should he surpass his brother in the rankings.
Now aged 20, and as the world No.124 coming into Qualifying, he is just four places shy of 23-year-old Elias.
After his brother crashed out in the opening round at Roehampton this year, Mikael could usurp the No.1 ranking within his family and among the Swedes with a run at Wimbledon.
“No, absolutely not. We don’t see it that way,” Ymer said. “For me he is still the Swedish No.1, both game level-wise and result-wise, that’s Elias for me.
“Even if I pass him I don’t see myself as the Swedish No.1. But let’s see what the future holds for us.”
The sons of Ethiopian immigrants – Mum’s known within the family as Mimmi and Dad simply as Ymer – Mikael and Elias share a competitive drive.
Even hitting the practice courts at Roehampton this week, Ymer said there was no better training partner than his older brother.
And when probed on whether their competitive streaks extended to competing against each other growing up, Ymer’s response was swift.
“Yes, in everything,” he grinned. “We trained every day, that I cannot deny. We competed very, very hard. Even today, as long as we don’t start fighting, he’s the best one to practise with because it gets very match-like.”
As long as we don’t start fighting, he’s the best one to practise with because it gets very match-like
It was Dad who primarily took on the role of carting the boys to training and around tennis tournaments across Sweden while they were growing up.
A results-based reward system sometimes required Mum to settle the score afterwards.
“My dad did pretty well, it was usually him at the tennis,” Ymer said. “Mum tried to stay home.
“Dad would do different competitions at the tennis and the winner would get to decide what programmes to watch, what dinner to choose.
“Then we’d come home and the one who lost would complain to Mum and she would just try to level it out. She’d just want peace in the house.”
There will be elation in the Ymer house again should Mikael find a way past his next opponent, Austrian Dennis Novak.
A Wimbledon main draw debut will be his rightful reward.