Young Italian star Jannik Sinner will be praying its 11th-time lucky for opponents bidding to dethrone Novak Djokovic in an Australian Open semi-final.
The super Serb has not lost any of his 10 previous semi-finals at Melbourne Park, but also gone on to win the title every time.
Djokovic made his grand slam debut at the Open in 2005 and three years later claimed his maiden major title, defeating French fan favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
On a 33-match Open win streak, the undisputed king of Melbourne Park was talking down his flawless semi-final record after accounting for American Taylor Fritz in the quarters.
"Let's be humble a little bit," the world No.1 said as he drew within two wins of an unprecedented 25th grand slam singles title.
"Of course, confidence is there but matches are only going to get tougher."
While history isn't in his favour, Sinner is the only member of the men's final four yet to drop a set and defeated Djokovic in their most recent match-up in the Davis Cup semi-finals in November.
Indeed, the Italian was even able to enjoy the unprecedented feat of beating Djokovic twice in the same day, in singles and doubles, at the Cup in Malaga.
But the world No.4 has only reached the final-four of a grand slam once previously - at Wimbledon last year when he was eliminated by the Serb in straight sets.
Sinner scrambled from 1-5 down against Andre Rublev in the second-set tiebreaker before downing the Russian in the quarter-finals, and he believes it shows he is ready for the 24-time slam winner.
"There were a lot of pressure points," the 22-year-old said.
"I handled it in a good way, in a right way, and hopefully it's going to help me for the next match.
"Novak has an incredible record here."
Sinner can create his own piece of history with victory in Friday's first semi-final, joining Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as just the third player to beat the Serb at a grand slam, the ATP Finals and in Davis Cup.
World No.3 Daniil Medvedev or German No.6 seed Alexander Zverev, who take to Rod Laver Arena on Friday night, await the winner.
Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, has a 5-2 record in grand slam semi-finals and has won both his previous last-four encounters at Melbourne Park.
It's in the finals that the Russian's luck has run dry, dispatched by Djokovic in 2021 before collapsing to a crushing five-set defeat to fast-finishing Nadal the following year.
Zverev will get his second shot at making the final in Melbourne after withering to a four-set loss to Austrian and eventual runner-up Dominic Thiem in 2020.
