Emma Raducanu has little choice but to adjust to life in the fast lane and the string of firsts that come with it.
Not that she would have it otherwise.
It is not often a player can boast of a Grand Slam trophy before having faced a Grand Slam champion in their career.
But on Tuesday, the British teenager will have done both after she squares off against American Sloane Stephens in her Australian Open debut.
Ahead of a showdown between the incumbent and 2017 US Open champions at Melbourne Park, Raducanu was bracing for the early test.
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“I watched Sloane win the US Open. I hit with her last year actually,” Raducanu said. “Yeah, great opponent. Obviously you don't win a Grand Slam without being very capable.
“I think it's going to be a tough match for sure. I'm going to go out there and enjoy the match because just playing in this Grand Slam, I had to work so hard to be here. Yeah, I'll just go out there and enjoy.”
The 19-year-old has endured a bumpy ride since that Flushing Meadows breakthrough in September as she managed just two wins from six matches since and a bout of Covid-19 in the off-season.
With a limited window to practice ahead of her first hit-out of the new year, she salvaged just one game against Elena Rybakina in Sydney.
No serious alarm bells sounded.
“It's a challenge to try and find the balance of wanting to get out there and practice so much straight after coming out of isolation, but if you ever do it with the hours after not doing anything for 20 days, you always start picking up small niggles,” the 17th seed said.
“I'm just trying to find that balance. The first week (of 2022) I wasn't able to practise so much. But after Sydney, the match, it was just good to see where I was at that point in time.
"Afterwards I went out to sharpen up a few things on the practice court. I'm actually feeling like there's progress.”
Despite a leaner few years since her second major final at Roland Garros in 2018, Stephens still managed to pick off some big names early on at the majors in 2021.
She knocked out ninth seed Karolina Pliskova in the second round in Paris, two-time former champion Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon and repeated the result in a rematch of her US Open final against good friend Madison Keys in New York before an upset of Coco Gauff in the second round.
Newly married in the off-season, it will be Stephens’ first event since Indian Wells in October.
An Australian Open semifinalist, following her win over Serena Williams in 2013, Stephens offered some sage advice to the newest Grand Slam champion in a chat with coach Kamau Murray on the tennis.com podcast.
“When you carry the weight of a whole country, it's very different. I haven't had that pressure, but I do know that it's very tough,” Stephens said. “So, blessings to her (laughter). I wish her well, I know it will be difficult, but she is a great little player.
“Everyone goes through those ups and downs though. At some point you, like, kind of come back down. It's very emotional, I will say that. (That next year after winning a Grand Slam) is brutal.”