Sam Stosur couldn't carry the burden of a nation's expectations on her shoulders. Jarmila Gajdosova almost cried and felt like the whole country was on her case. Jelena Dokic, she's just chillin'.
Dokic is eyeing a return to the world top 20 for the first time in eight years, having crushed Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-1 in 48 minutes in her opening match at the Australian Open.
Dokic, whose current world ranking stands at 64, has recently reconciled with her father Damir. Now the girl with the often troubled past, credits her promising outlook to new coach Louise Pleming and a refreshing new attitude.
''First of all you want to be healthy and have a full year with no injuries,'' Dokic said. ''If I can do that I think it will be a good year, so that's the most important thing at the moment. If all goes well, hopefully top 20.''
Then Dokic added, laughing, ''You have to just chill a little bit.''
''Not just me, but things in general and things come a lot easier when you do that. That's something I've been working on with [my coach] Louise because you're going to have bad days.''
Stosur knows that all too well. She had one yesterday.
Coming off her famous victory at the US Open, Stosur's Australian Open campaign lasted just 91minutes in a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 defeat to Romania's world No59 Sorana Cirstea.
''I'm probably very close to crying, having a really awful night,'' Stosur said after becoming the first women's US Open winner in 45 years of professional tennis to subsequently fall in the first round of the Australian Open.
''But I think you feel what you feel, whether it's good or bad. It's hard to suppress those emotions when it means so much to you.''
The world No5's unscheduled exit means Stosur has managed just 14 wins in 10 home Grand Slams, progressing beyond the third round only twice.
''Of course I wanted to do very well here. You want it to come right now.''
Stosur arrived in Melbourne down on confidence and openly admitting to struggling under the weight of expectation. It affects you physically,'' she said. ''That's probably the easiest sign for the outside people to see ... to see that you tighten up, your shoulders do get tight, you don't hit through the ball.
''When anyone's nervous, I think the first thing that goes is your footwork. Once that breaks down, it's easy for other things to start breaking down.''
Gajdosova appears broken, playing her tennis like someone in a deep hole.
The Slovakian-born Gajdosova extended her Australian Open record to seven straight first-round losses after being beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Maria Kirilenko from Russia.
Early last year, everything looked much rosier.
Gajdosova was ranked a career-high No24 in the world and was happily married to Australian professional Sam Groth.
Fast forward a year and Gajdosova's marriage has dissolved. She feels hounded by critics.
''The first thing everyone says is how bad my game is,'' Gajdosova said.
''When you play well, it's 'oh you're unbelievable'. Then you have a bad morning and it's 'you played real crap today'. You can't win no matter what I do.
''You believe in something you've been doing since you were seven years old, you go to 24 in the world so you would think I have achieved something already.
''And still people question it every single day.''
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