When Lucie Safarova upset the odds – and a couple of former champions – to reach the final of this spring’s French Open, few in the tennis world would have begrudged her this long-overdue moment in the spotlight.

In a sport where the margins between winning and losing are invariably razor-thin, there is little room for niceties. However, Safarova has always been as charming and grounded off the court as she is intense on it. Never one to short-change fans, media or her fellow players, the 28-year-old is universally loved.

There has been no doubting Safarova’s ability on court either. A regular scourge of Top 10 opponents and a major semifinalist, in the first half of 2015 the Czech finally started to add the much-sought-after consistency to her game.

While a dip in form at the start of the summer and a bacterial infection threatened to undo her earlier good work, Safarova regrouped to book a place at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Although unable to make it out of the round robin stage in Singapore, she bounced back a few weeks later to help the Czech Republic regain its Fed Cup crown.

Now with the belief to go along with her talent, it will be interesting to see where Safarova and her larger-then-life coach Rob Steckley go next. Ill health has thrown a spanner into her pre-season training, but with relatively few points to defend Down Under, the mercurial left-hander has an opportunity to consolidate her Top 10 spot.