Damir Dzumhur is not the type to turn his nose up at the grind, given his unlikely rise from such humble beginnings.
Born in under-siege Sarajevo early in the Bosnian War, no far-flung back court at an ATP Challenger event is beyond the former world No.23 as he looks to rebuild from a season he deems his worst since announcing himself at the Australian Open eight years ago.
From the highs of that breakout third-round run in 2014 to becoming the first Bosnian to capture an ATP title in St Petersburg in 2017, the 29-year-old has endured a lean few years since.
An opening-round qualifying win against Australian wildcard Li Tu on Monday went some way to turning it all around in 2022.
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It broke a three-match losing streak and set up a showdown on Wednesday with another Aussie wildcard, Rinky Hijikata.
"That's probably the toughest part, mentally … I wouldn't say really the motivation. I don't care if I have to play a Challenger. I don't care if I have to play Futures level. I'm not that kind of player who's appreciating only the big stages and big courts," Dzumhur told ausopen.com.
"I can play anywhere, because when I was young I was practising everywhere. I was practising on a court which doesn't even exist anywhere else in the world and that's how I learnt to play tennis but, you know, knowing that you have to do a lot to get where you were, or get close to where you were, is tough. You know that the journey is very long."
Under the guidance of his father and tennis coach Nerfid, that first tennis court, of sorts, was Sarajevo’s Zetra Olympic Hall, which was badly damaged from bombing and had been used as a shelter for Bosnian refugees during the war.
It was a far cry from walking onto Hisense Arena to face seventh seed Tomas Berdych in the third round at Melbourne Park as a qualifier in 2014, or onto Rod Laver Arena against top seed Rafael Nadal at the same stage four years later.
"Australia is the place where I made my first big result in 2014, where everything started for me, I would say. I like Melbourne, I like Melbourne Park, I like playing here," Dzumhur said after Monday's victory.
"I think I wasn't really lucky with the last three years – once I played (Stan) Wawrinka first round, once (Gael) Monfils.
"Last year I was in hard quarantine. I wasn't able to hit for 16 days, then I got blisters and couldn't play until the first round so it was really unlucky. But I like being here and I think today, finally, I enjoyed it on court.
"Last year was tough for me. I dropped to 157th and that was definitely the worst year for me of the last seven, eight years. I wasn't enjoying so much on court but I just feel everything I was working on pre-season is coming up like a puzzle. It's getting in together and I'm happy with how my first match went."
As his passion for competition took a hit in 2021, something had to give. When he and his wife Barbara welcomed the birth of their son Luka in October, it served as an immediate reminder that the grind was still worth it.
"Since he was born, I played a few tournaments, played really good and I said to myself 'here's my motivation' and this is what can give me more energy than what I had before, so it's really working," he said.
"This is going to be a big motivation for me this year and I think it can help me coming back to the top 100.
"I want to try again to go where I think I belong, so hopefully in the next few months I can show to myself and I can prove myself that I can do better than I am right now."