As Sam Stosur walked off the Stadium Court of the Queensland Tennis Centre in Brisbane, she was greeted to an enthusiastic reception from her home crowd.
She had just beaten Angelique Kerber, a top 20 player and a three-time Grand Slam champion.
It was Stosur's first win against Kerber in five attempts, the last coming in Madrid in 2015.
It was also only the second game Stosur has won at the Brisbane International in the last seven years.
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But there was a notable change in Stosur's game when she took on Kerber.
Confidence.
Stosur started the match perfectly, taking her first service game to love and breaking Kerber at the first opportunity.
The set eventually went to a tiebreak where the Aussie trailed 5-1.
In other years, she may have let her head drop and Kerber would have proven too strong.
However, Stosur had one thing in mind as she searched for a rare win in front of the Brisbane crowd.
"I just want to enjoy the times I get to be out there playing singles matches," Stosur told Sporting News after the match.
"I thought I played really well tonight, I did what I wanted to be doing... and really stuck to my plan and enjoyed it out there.
"It was fantastic playing in front of a home crowd, they were obviously very much behind me which made it even better."
Stosur was eventually victorious over Kerber in straight sets, 7-6 7-6.
CMON!
— Wide World of Sports (@wwos) January 6, 2020
Stosur takes the first set 🙌
Watch: @9Go
Stream: https://t.co/mY14Q45phM
#9WWOS #BrisbaneInternational #Tennis pic.twitter.com/5U6JaTc9Pt
Enjoying her tennis is something that Stosur wants to ensure she does more of in 2020, and that starts in Brisbane.
Since 2015, Stosur has started her summer of tennis in Queensland.
She had a 1-5 record going into the match in that time, her only victory coming against Slovakia's Jana Cepelova in 2016.
Despite that, Stosur says she loves being able to play the first matches of the year in such a familiar setting.
"Not every player on tour can say they've got a tournament where they grew up so I'm very fortunate to be in that position," Stosur said.
"As a Queenslander, I grew up on the Gold Coast and played heaps of tournaments in Brisbane so it definitely feels like a home tournament for me.
"It's always good fun, sometimes you can want to play so well you don't play as well as what you know you can."
The pressure of playing in Australia is one that Stosur has had to carry for a number of years.
As Australia's number one ranked female tennis player for the majority of the 2010s, there was a sense of expectation that Stosur would perform in her home tournaments.
It's a pressure that Stosur said she's had to learn to live with and believes that sometimes it came down to a matter of trying too hard to win tournaments in Australia.
"I'm a pretty hard taskmaster for myself and I expect a lot out of myself," Stosur said.
"Sometimes when you want it too bad it doesn't quite work out.
"I think I've got to try and get away from that and enjoy getting out there.
"I don't need to try hard to want to get myself in that position, it's more about trying to play the way I want to play.
"I get enjoyment out of serving well, hitting well, hitting winners and being out there.
"That's really what I want to achieve out of these tournaments, especially here in Australia."
Going into 2020, Stosur no longer shoulders that burden alone.
The future of Australian women's tennis has never looked as bright, with seven in the top 200 in the world.
The charge is of course led by Ash Barty, the world number one and reigning French Open champion.
Stosur believes that Barty could feel a similar sense of responsibility going into the summer as the number one player in the world.
"Obviously I've pretty much been in the position Ash is in playing at home and been the highest-ranked Australian," Stosur said.
"You know there's always pressure no matter where you're playing.
"Ash is obviously leading the way, not just in Australian tennis but world tennis being number one.
"All of us in Australian tennis are proud of what she's been able to achieve.
"She does it with class and she's certainly setting the bar very high and we're all trying to catch her."
For Stosur, she now enters her third decade of professional tennis and is relishing the confidence she can take from her victory against Kerber.
"This is probably a nice situation to be in where I can try and get that out of my head and stick with that you'll never know what happen," she said.
"I think today, that proves to myself that I'm capable of playing well enough to beat some of the best players in the world.
"That's a huge motivation to want to do it time and time again."
Stosur takes on Madison Keys in the next round of the Brisbane International.
Unlike her record against Kerber, Stosur has won all three of her previous encounters against the American.
While she wouldn't dwell on the past, the Aussie is just looking forward to being able to go out and play another game in her home tournament.
"First and foremost I get another opportunity to be out there," Stosur said.
"[You've] got to take those opportunities when they come and enjoy that moment.
"These tournaments in Australia are always tough going into the Aussie Open.
"Everyone is coming off pre-season, they haven't played many matches for 6-8 weeks for most people.
"It's a credit to the tournaments that they keep putting on world-class events that players keep wanting to come to.
"I've got to go out there and try and do what I did tonight all over again."
You can catch part two of our exclusive one-on-one with Sam Stosur here.
