Fulfilment off the court has been a silver lining in an otherwise rough nine months on it for former world No.31 Marton Fucsovics.
The supremely fit 32-year-old’s body began to fail him following his first trophy in three years in Bucharest last April.
After opening his Australian Open qualifying bid on Tuesday with a 6-4 6-4 win over Spaniard Oriel Roca Batalla, the Hungarian revealed his engagement to Nini Molnar in Paris last month ended the year on a much more positive note.
RESULTS: AO 2025 Day 2 qualifying
“A very important part of my life, we got engaged, she said ‘yes’, so that's the most important for me,” Fucsovics said. “In my personal life, I’m very happy. I achieved a lot of nice results in my career and now I have the love of my life, so I'm very happy right now.”
Slow out of the blocks when he trailed 1-4 early, the third seed’s result was done and dusted in a handy 84 minutes. It set a clash against Portugal’s Henrique Rocha.
There was relief and cautious optimism that the most challenging aspect of last season was behind him.
DRAW: AO 2025 men's singles qualifying
“I had a couple of injuries - wrist injury, lower back injury. I was struggling a lot,” Fucsovics said. “I won a tournament last year, Bucharest 250, and after that I got injured so I couldn't play 100 per cent the rest of the year. At the end of the year, I just played couple of tournaments. I dropped outside the top 100, but the goal is to come back.”
Seven years ago, Fucsovics arrived at Melbourne Park without an Australian Open win to his name.
He claimed his first top-20 win over Sam Querrey en route to the fourth round at a major for the first time before he ran into eventual champion, a rampant Roger Federer.
In 2020, he was at it again, only this time his victims read like a who’s who of casualties – 13th seed Denis Shapovalov in the first round, future champion Jannik Sinner in the second round and current world No.12 Tommy Paul in the third.
DRAW: AO 2025 women's singles qualifying
In a tough case of déjà vu, he again ran into Federer in the last 16, where despite having snatched the opening set, he was eventually reeled in.
“I remember I was very motivated in 2018,” he said. “I was very happy to play here. This is one of my favourite events. I reached the fourth round twice. Both times I lost to Roger, so I certainly didn't have a lucky draw, but it's always nice to play here. I love the weather, I love the atmosphere.”
There was no shortage of hype surrounding the qualifying debut of 16-year-old Australian wildcard Cruz Hewitt on Court 3.
If the name had not already given it away, Hewitt Jnr aimed to follow in the footsteps of his father, former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt, who qualified at 15 to make his main draw debut in 1997.
EXPLAINER: How Grand Slam tournament draws are made
After a nervous start, the teenager settled but ultimately could not match heavy-hitting Nikoloz Basilashvili, a former world No.16 on the comeback from wrist and lower back injuries, in a 6-1 6-4 defeat.
The 32-year-old Georgian was all praise for his younger challenger after he booked a clash against Alibek Kachmazov.
“Cruz showed up and played very well,” he said. “He just turned 16. When I was 16, I think I would be pooping my pants stepping out in Grand Slam qualies.
“Here I think he managed it very well. Well done to him to come out and play, it’s brave. I think he can play very well in the future.”
In other men’s results, Slovak 21st seed Jozef Kovalik scored his first win in three attempts at all levels against Australian former world No.17 Bernard Tomic 6-3 6-1, while second seed Matteo Bellucci cruised past local wildcard Pavle Marinkov 6-3 6-3.
Sixth-seeded Brazilian Thiago Monteiro snuck past Australian Jason Kubler 7-6(4) 7-6(4), but Kazakhstani ninth seed Mikhail Kukushkin fell 6-0 6-2 to Estonian Mark Lajal.