Ash Barty believes she feels 'no extra pressure' heading into her home Grand Slam for the first time as the number one player in the world.
The 23-year-old Queenslander was in the zone as she spoke to reporters a night out from her 2020 Australian Open campaign.
She faces Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko on Rod Laver Arena on Monday night and the Aussie is excited to get onto the court.
When asked how she feels heading into Melbourne Park this year, Barty summed it up with one word, 'excitement'.
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"It's been obviously an exciting twelve months since the last time I sat here," Barty told reporters.
"Coming back to Melbourne I have really good memories from last year, so excited to get started tomorrow night."
Barty had a shaky start to her Aussie summer, losing to an in-form Jennifer Brady in her first match at home at the Brisbane International.
However, she got her year right back on track as she won the Adelaide International.
The victory was Barty's first title on home soil, and she's hoping to follow it up with her home Grand Slam.
"It's the perfect preparation," Barty said.
"But regardless of whether I won the title last week, I feel like I am well prepared.
"I'm happy, I'm healthy and I'm coming into the first Grand Slam of the year with a smile on my face.
Barty has become the face of tennis in Australia thanks to her remarkable rise in 2019.
It has meant that she has been featured in a number of marketing campaigns as organisers promote the first Grand Slam of the year.
It's lead to one thing that Barty jokingly said she is 'sick' of seeing.
"Yeah my face is everywhere a little bit, isn't it?" Barty said.
"I'm a bit sick of it to be honest."
She confirmed that she won't let the extra attention phase her, with the world number one focused intently on winning her second Grand Slam singles title.
"There's no extra pressure though, I don't read the papers, I don't look into it any more than I need to," Barty said.
"I'm here with my team trying to do the best that we can.
"It's amazing to have so much support and so much love from the Australian public.
"I've really felt that in an exceptional way over the last twelve months, it's been incredible.
"So pretty excited to get started tomorrow night."
Barty made it to the quarterfinals of the 2019 Australian Open before being beaten in straight sets by Petra Kvitova.
The whole of Australia will be hoping she can go even better as she looks to become the first Australian to win their home Grand Slam since the 1970s.
"I think, yeah, for all of us [Australian tennis players] it's a dream [to win the Australian Open]," Barty said.
"For every player in this draw, it's a dream to try and win a Grand Slam.
"We'll just try to do the best we can tomorrow night and see how we go."
Barty has every right to be focused solely on her first match against Tsurenko on Monday, with the Ukrainian getting the better of her in their last meeting.
Tsurenko, currently ranked 120th in the world, beat Barty in straight sets in Brisbane in 2018, 6-3 6-2.
"[I] obviously played Tsurenko a couple of years ago in Brisbane," Barty said.
"She got the better of me that match.
"I know I'll have to be ready to go right from the start. But, yeah, looking forward to it."
