The in-form former Russian is currently in Melbourne for a Federation Cup training camp. Her recent results include a finals appearance at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow where she lost out to defending champion, Russian local Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Currently ranked 25th in the world, just a few spots behind fellow Aussie Sam Stosur, “Dasha” recently shared with Inside Sport that her coach, former Aussie star of the court Nicole Pratt, has been working on a few key areas of her game since Gavrilova became based Down Under.

“Since I came to Australia we’ve been working a lot on my forehand and serve,” Daria said a few weeks back. “Actually, only yesterday I was working through vision of my matches. I noticed that my serve has improved a lot. It just needed a few quick fixes. Already it’s improved about 30 percent just by changing a few things.”

We put it to the 2016 Aussie Open fourth-rounder to describe her own game – not an easy task for a lot of athletes … “Probably my greatest strength is my offence,” Gavrilova said. “I move quite well. Even when I watch myself playing on YouTube or whatever, sometimes I’m like, ‘Whoa, how did I get to that ball?’ I’m pretty energised out there. I do a lot of work on it, but my speed on the court is pretty natural. It’s the same for a lot of players, and for some it’s a bit of a struggle.”

Gavrilova has been short-listed for the coveted Newcombe Medal, which will be presented at the Australian Tennis Awards in Melbourne on November 28. The Australian Open will be contested between January 16-29, 2017.