Ashleigh Barty's meteoric rise is providing ample motivation for Daria Gavrilova as she gears up for another Australian Open assault.
Australia's No.1-ranked player, Barty is tipped to cap off a year of astonishing success by taking out the Newcombe Medal at Monday's ceremony in Melbourne.
The Queenslander would be a worthy winner of the highest individual honour in Australian tennis after rocketing to a career-high No.17 ranking from outside the top 200.
Likewise Gavrilova, who ranks 2017 as a career-best year after taking out her maiden WTA title in August in Connecticut.
A back-to-back Newcombe Medal nominee, Gavrilova has begun training for the summer as she looks to build on consecutive fourth-round finishes at Melbourne Park.
She will partner Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Hopman Cup before joining a star-studded field including Venus Williams and Petra Kvitova at January's Sydney International.
And while more than happy to share the limelight, Gavrilova says Barty's big year is driving her to go one better.
"She's had a great year, really proud of her," Gavrilova told reporters on Thursday.
"I knew she was playing good from the beginning of the year when we were playing Fed Cup.
"Just playing some practice sets ... I was like 'she's playing really good; she's going to do some damage' but, obviously, I did not expect her to end up being the No.1 Aussie.
"Sam (Stosur), myself and Ash, we're all really competitive and it's good to just push each other."
Fan favourite Gavrilova showed plenty of her trademark grit and tenacity last summer at Melbourne Park before going down in straight sets to former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova.
She had less success in the overseas majors, suffering first-round defeats at Wimbledon and Roland Garros and losing to Shelby Rogers in a second-round US Open epic.
"Winning my first tournament probably makes it the best year but, to be honest, I started the year (ranked) around 25 and finished the year around 25," Gavrilova said with a wry smile.
"I did reach 20 (in August) ... I made sure I let everyone know on social media."
