Considering that she is only 1.60m tall, it might seem inappropriate to suggest that Dominika Cibulkova has grown with every match en route to the Australian Open final, but the 24-year-old Slovakian has ended the tournament with her stature in the game enhanced.
Cibulkova, the world No24, began the event having reached only one grand slam semifinal - at the 2009 French Open - and with a reputation as a player who was not quite good enough to live with the best. In the last fortnight, however, she has steamrollered four higher-ranked opponents in Carla Suarez Navarro, Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and Agnieszka Radwanska and dropped only one set in her six matches.
Having had several coaches in her career, she gives much of the credit to the present incumbent, Matej Liptak, who has been working with her for more than a year.
"I think I am more mature," Cibulkova said. "All my coaches have helped me a lot, but he's got to the stage that now I know that I have to do the right things. I want to do it. It's not a case of somebody pushing me to do something and I didn't understand why.
"Now I think he's working with a much more mature Domi. That's why all the things can come together."