Canberra tennis player Alison Bai will relive a childhood dream at the Australian Open and she's adopting a "love of the game" mentality in a bid to find the success she craves.
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Bai booked a ticket to her fifth Australian Open doubles tournament when she was handed a wildcard berth alongside 21-year-old Ballarat product Zoe Hives.
The pair flourished on the Australian Pro Tour and stunned rivals to win the Bendigo International, earning the spot which lands Bai at her third consecutive Australian Open.
"It's every kid's dream to be able to play at the Australian Open," Bai said.
"Being an Aussie as well, it's always awesome whether it's in singles or doubles. Either way, it's great to be part of the tournament and to be in that environment amongst the best players in the world.
"You can't really beat that, that's pretty much the top of tennis really. The first couple of years I played at the Open I was super nervous.
"It's such a big stage and you're there and you get to get amongst all the best tennis players in the world.
"Now I've been there a few times, this is my fifth time, I'm just going to try and enjoy it all and just play some good tennis, just enjoy being there in the atmosphere.
"Going down to compete again, it's definitely a rare opportunity to be guaranteed a spot this early before January. I'm just trying to enjoy it and trying to play the best I can."
Bai and Hives were rated the best-performing doubles pair at the $60,000 Canberra International and Bendigo International ITF tournaments this month.
They went on a giant-killing run in Bendigo, knocking over the top three seeds on the way to success.
Bai laughs they were due for a win and it was "third time lucky", having been bundled out in the opening round in each of their previous two tournaments.
"Pretty much the third week, being our last tournament, we thought we'd just go out and have some fun," Bai said.
"We were really just trying to get through the first round and we were pretty happy with that. To go all the way and take out the tournament, beating the top three seeds as well as getting the wildcard was awesome.
"Everyone knows at the beginning of the tour that there are opportunities for Australian Open wildcards up for grabs but you really can't think about it too much.
"You just have to concentrate on what you're doing, and if you're able to grab it it's an awesome opportunity.
Bai is now waiting to hear if she will have the opportunity to play for a singles spot in the Australian Open 2018 wildcard play-off.
Bai isn't expecting to hear anything until Monday, after which she can map out a plan for the coming months in the lead up to the tournament.
"Fingers crossed, until then I'm just going to relax and have some kind of normal life," Bai said.
