Knowing time is well and truly on her side, Ashleigh Barty was far from despondent after a comprehensive first-round exit at the French Open.
The 18-year-old was easily accounted for by French 20th seed Alize Cornet on Monday, losing 6-2 6-1 in 58 minutes.
Playing on Roland Garros' showpiece Court Philippe Chatrier in front of a parochial French crowd, Barty admitted nerves played a part.
She also acknowledged Cornet was simply too good.
However, already playing in her eighth grand slam main draw, Barty knows not many teenagers are getting the big stage experience she is and the Queenslander is happy to bide her time.
"For me, it's a slow process," Barty said after the defeat.
"I'm taking a little bit of a different route to a lot of the other girls.
"I've played a lot of (qualifiers) this year just to get matches and get that accumulation of time on court.
"So that's been really good for me.
"I know results will come eventually from that, I've just got to keep working hard and doing the right things."
Barty reached the second round at Roland Garros last year and failing to defend the points means her ranking of 172 will suffer slightly.
By contrast, Barty is ranked 15 in doubles and she and partner Casey Dellacqua are considered contenders for the title at Roland Garros after winning last week's WTA event in Strasbourg.
The pair reached the finals of both Wimbledon and the US last year but they gave away a huge lead to lose in the first round of the claycourt grand slam.
"Last year was pretty bad for us. Hopefully we can knuckle down the first few rounds and get some confidence," Barty said.
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