Jannik Sinner's victory at the Australian Open to claim back-to-back titles is tennis' peak. Every player aspires to etch their name onto one of the four Grand Slam trophies.
But what many fans don't see is the gruelling grind at the lower-tier events, with up-and-coming players forced to rely on financial support, and, with that, suffer from guilt if they fail to fulfil their potential or make it to the top.
Originally for Australia's Matthew Dellavedova, the start of his professional career looked bleak despite knowing within himself that he had put in the hard yards.
"The year before last [2021], I had a similar year where I put myself in the same position. I think I played about nine months straight, and for the entirety of the year, I picked up two points," he told The First Serve host Brett Phillips in February 2023.
"I was just struggling in qualies, could rarely win a match in the main draw, and I remember coming home and I was like, 'Man, what's going on? This isn't right. I'm putting in that much work playing so many matches and it just isn't coming.'"
His father, Peter, also joined Phillips on The First Serve radio show three months prior, detailing the financial strains that his son has had to endure since taking up the sport professionally.
"You don't break even until you're around about the 330 (ranking). That means if you're anything outside 330 in the world, your parents or sponsors are looking at it," he shared.
Financially, it got to the point where Peter would top up Matthew's bank account as he was travelling on the road; struggling to make ends meet.
Given those setbacks, it would have been easy for him to consider his options elsewhere, but his character and fighting spirit overcame those initial obstacles.
In the last three years, Dellavedova has won 178 matches spread across the ITF and Challenger circuit, with his latest win against Dane Sweeney at this week's Brisbane Challenger further adding to that tally.
When he spoke to Phillips two years ago, the 24-year-old was sitting outside of the top-1000.
Having reached a career-high ranking of No.334 and sitting No.378 in the live ATP rankings, Phillips caught up with Dellavedova again.
"Probably solid years I would say," Dellavedova said when referring to his incremental rise. "I think I've solidified my ranking below the 500 mark.
"I've played a lot of matches [and] won a lot of matches, but I would say performing really well in Futures, now trying to make that breakthrough into the Challenger circuit, it's definitely different. The level is a bit higher.
"I'm feeling good, a lot of hard work, but trying to break through hasn't been easy. I need a bit more development, but it's been a good few years."
As he was slogging it out at the ITF15 events, barely making enough to break even if he had won those tournaments, the Challenger Tour was the next goal engrained in Dellavedova's mind.
The past 12 months have seen a breakthrough, and he opened up on the differences between the two formats.
"I generally think that it's more the environment, the ball change [going from] max 11 or 13 in the futures to nine or 11. That makes a big difference," he said.
"Also, the way the Challengers are scheduled, it's very different. You're travelling more every week. I found when I was in the Futures, it was easier to structure your schedule, you could stay at one place for a few weeks to get used to the environment, get used to the courts. If you felt good, you knew you were going to perform pretty well.
"Whereas the Challenger you have to play one week, move onto the next and readjust to get used to different conditions.
"In Futures, you might get a couple of the guys early on in rounds that you feel like you can get through. You just don't get that in Challengers [because] you're often playing against guys [who are] ex-top-100 or the very, very good juniors who often make breakthroughs only a few months after you play them."
In terms of that mindset of setting small goals, the Victorian is planting his feet firmly on the ground.
"I'm just trying to do it the same as I was when I was outside 1000, just try to go up every 100," Dellavedova shared.
"Whatever I need to do to get into the [200s], and I want to do that by breaking through in a Challenger. That's one of my goals for 2025... no longer playing any [ITF15s], but I definitely want to make a push in a Challenger.
"I feel like I can match it with those guys, I feel like I belong there. I think once you do that a couple of times, you start to feel like you can do it."
Since Dellavedova picked up his first-ever ATP point at the age of 16, the one quality that has always remained is his fitness and physicality.
On the technical side, he has made changes to his game, allowing him to continually build on his strengths.
"I would say serve and backhand for sure [are] something that I've definitely put a lot of work into," he said.
"Serve being once you get into the higher ranks, that new ball change really exaggerates how important that serve is, so definitely getting a lot of baskets of serves in.
"My forehand is very steady and [it's] my danger shot. I've always had confidence in that.
"But also just really tapping into my fitness; that's something I always enjoy and I pride myself on being physical, using that as more of a weapon, not being afraid of having long matches. A lot of matches that I won this year, in big matches, I was able to run away with it in the third, backing my fitness."
His win over compatriot Dane Sweeney this week marked his first win of the new 2025 season after two nail-biting three-set defeats at the hands of Britain's Jacob Fearnley, who defeated Nick Kyrgios earlier this month, and France's Terence Atmane.
"Not going to lie, very disappointed," he said when asked about his two losses this season. "Very good matches, but super disappointing.
"I got two wildcards, and I always hate getting wildcards and not doing something with it. I understood that I paid my dues; I'm incredibly grateful.
"Fearnley, he's playing very well at a great level and I thought I was right there. I wasn't actually going to step on court [because] I was dealing with this achilles injury before the match but I went, 'Nah, I'm definitely going to step out on court'. It was playable, but credit to him, he played too good right at the end.
"I played Terence a couple of times before and had never beaten him, and he had a huge game. It was a big moment for me; I felt a lot of pressure in that match because I had people there, and I'm used to playing 10 months overseas where I have no one with me and no crowd support, but this was a great turn out and a bit more pressure."
Dellavedova continues his quest to climb up the rankings in the next round of the Brisbane Challenger when he faces No.5 seed and fellow Australian Tristan Schoolkate, who was only one of two players at the recent Australian Open to grab a set off Sinner.
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