Daria Gavrilova returned to Australia 12 months ago to finish what she started. Ranked outside the Top 200 and hoping to earn an Australian Open wildcard two years after her Grand Slam debut, the former junior No.1 and Youth Olympic Gold Medalist felt at home at the Happy Slam long before playing under its flag.

“I have loved Australia for a long time,” the 2015 WTA Newcomer of the Year said during the Miami Open. “I have been coming there since maybe 2010 and always loved it there.”

Moscow born and Melbourne based, Gavrilova first tasted WTA success in 2013, reaching the second round of the Australian Open as a qualifier – besting future Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard for a spot in the main draw. Looking back, the Aussie admitted she had a lot to learn.

“It’s a completely different level,” she told WTA Insider. “The standard is a lot higher [than in juniors], so I had to improve in all aspects of my game.”

That opportunity for improvement came under inauspicious circumstances. A torn ACL took her off the circuit for just over eight months; working with former WTA No.35 Nicole Pratt, the time was well spent.

“It was a good pause for me as it gave me a chance to work on all areas of my game – especially physically.”

“We had a broken body that we had to re-build,” Pratt explained in the spring. “I think it was a blessing in disguise. She spent nine months off of the tour and got better physically and mentally.”

Once able to stay back and gut out wins over junior competition, Gavrilova started stepping into the court, taking advantage of an instinctive all-court game. Closing out the 2014 season with a WTA main draw finish at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, she won the Australian Open Wildcard Playoff without dropping a set and rode an eight-match win streak into the round of 16 at the Brisbane International.

“I didn’t really need a pre-season because I was out for so long. So of course, getting some matches under my belt was a good thing for me because I haven’t played many tournaments that year at all.”

A fiery competitor, she immediately began challenging the game’s best, pushing Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep to three sets at the Apia Sydney International and BNP Paribas Open, respectively – battling the former until 3:10am.

“I got close to beating both girls and it gave me confidence to feel like I belong at this level and that I can beat anybody.”

The third time proved lucky for Gavrilova, who played efficient tennis to dispatch then-World No.2 Maria Sharapova in straight sets for the biggest win of her career. A spotlight was suddenly back on the Aussie, and it was abundantly clear that she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The experience of playing those big tournaments in a main draw is the first step in moving forward in my career. I have learned to handle the big occasions better – like playing on big stadium courts – and I absolutely loved it.”

She made a seamless transition to the clay courts in Rome, taking out a slew of big names – including two eventual French Open semifinalists in former No.1 Ana Ivanovic and 2015 WTA Most Improved Timea Bacsinszky – en route to the semifinals.

“My favorite match this year was against Ana on Pietrangeli; the court was so beautiful and the crowd was amazing!”

With a quarterfinal appearance in Eastbourne, the 21-year-old proved dangerous on all surfaces this season, later upsetting French Open finalist Lucie Safarova at the Rogers Cup and finding herself one game from taking out Petra Kvitova at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.

Matching her coach’s career-high ranking in early October, Gavrilova proved prescient when it came to where she’d land by year’s end, but the newly minted Aussie has much bigger goals for the stacked season to come.

“When we had a Fed Cup dinner in Miami with the Aussie team, I made a joke that my end ranking is going to be No.37, and I made No.36 so yes, I have achieved my goals.

“This is the first time I have really done a dedicated pre-season, knowing that I will be in main draw of all the upcoming events I want to play. In 2016, I want to get my Grand Slam results better than 2015; I’m also really excited to represent Australia at Fed Cup and Olympics.”

A year after needing a wildcard to enter her home major, Daria Gavrilova stands just four ranking spots outside the Top 32 seeds; look for this dangerous floater to rise even higher in 2016.

All photos courtesy of Getty Images.