Mirjana Lucic-Baroni into quarterfinals of the Australian open 2017

Eighteen years on, she is back in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam after an impressive 6-4 6-2 victory over American qualifier Jennifer Brady at Melbourne Park on Monday.

For the 34-year-old, this is all the more sweeter, given her off-court family struggles which ruled her out of the game for years.

“So much better now. It's incredible now. I mean, back then it was kind of expected of me and it was normal,” Lucic-Baroni said.

“I won a lot as a junior. Then I won a lot as soon as I started playing pro. It was kind of normal. It was normal to win tournaments, normal to win big matches and go far. I mean, it was incredible, of course, but it was more normal.

“But now it's been so long, it's extra fun, it's extra special, for sure.”