Ash Barty may become the first local Australian Open winner in 44 years but, whatever sport she turned to, the super talent was always destined for greatness.
Steffi Graf, Evonne Goolagong, Alicia Molick, Darren Cahill - they all saw it from the moment they first looked at her.
Ash in Barty's eyes gleamed, rare racket skills, diversity, audacity and above all, steely resolve and flair.
Cahill says that Barty had it all, even at age 14, when the precocious genius received expert tutoring from Graf, her husband Andre Agassi and American greats coach as a guest of the esteemed Adidas player development team in Las Vegas. was invited to. Gil Reyes.
Cahill, who has helped guide Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Simona Halep to world No. 1, was also coaching the American star at the time and vividly remembers Barty's wide-eyed journey.
"She was fabulous for her age at the time," the Australian super-coach told AAP.
“The opportunity to see her game, the versatility in her game, the way she handled pressure and expectations, you can simply tell that if she wants to continue down that path and work, she is always the one. Going to be a star.
"There was never any question about that."
Graf was also in awe of Barty's silky play at such a young age and, more than a decade later, still takes a special interest in Australia's tennis marvel.
"He hit a few balls with Steph and Steph was really impressed with that, and Steph knows the talent," Cahill said.
"So she would often, years later, ask how Ashley was doing and how was her progress because she was such a good tennis player, she had great hands and she still played differently to a lot of young players back then. . "
And still is. Only now Barty is not only playing different from his rivals but also destroying them.
A straight-sets win over American Daniel Collins in Saturday night's final will not break the country's 44-year Australian Open singles title drought in Melbourne.
It would also confirm Barty as the most dominant champion since Graf won the title in 1989, losing just 24 games.
Molick told AAP, "She's the best I've ever been. That's the thing that blows my mind all the time."
"Just when you think she's playing great like winning the French Open (2019) or winning Wimbledon last year, but then she takes herself to a whole new level.
"It seems to be every slam and every year."
Barty's growth and excellence, however, came as no surprise to Molick, who felt something special from the moment he watched the prodigy play at the national junior claycourt titles at Glen Iris more than a decade ago.
"She was probably 10 or 11 years old and then could chip in and drop the shot and just do a little bit of everything," the Mastercard ambassador said.
"I understood then that she grew up on grass or something because I hadn't met her and was advised to just go out and see her.
"She obviously could do anything; chip backhand, one-hand volley. Kids usually aren't complete with all the shots they can hit.
"They didn't go all the time but he had a repertoire."
The sport's super talent also excelled as a professional cricketer, taking a 15-month hiatus from tennis after the 2014 US Open.
Hopelessly upset and suffocated under crushing expectations, the so-called next Martina Hingis packed it all up and joined the Brisbane Heat.
Barty's surprise cross-code transition led Queensland women's coach Andy Richards to claim future tennis world No 1 could easily take on Australia's Ashes series against England in Saturday night's Open final alongside Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning. Instead of preparing, could play easily.
"She could have played for Australia. There's no doubt about it," Richards told AAP on Friday, scoring 39 off 27 balls on her WBBL debut in 2015 that saw the club "freak".
"I've never seen anything like this since then and probably never will. She was awesome, a freak.
"He had the most outstanding transferable skill ever. His hand-eye was quite extraordinary."
During the 11 months leading up to another pandemic from the WTA Tour in 2020, single-figure golfer Barty also won the women's A grade championship at Brookwater Club in Brisbane, where her fiancée Gary Kisik was an apprentice supporter.
With a swing that has impressed even Tiger Woods, Barty claimed that his achievement was "no big deal".
But men's club champion Louis Dobler, a two-time Queensland amateur champion, is convinced the 25-year-old could have turned pro.
Dobbler told the AAP, "If she wants to pursue this she has all the tools. If she sets her mind to it, I'm sure she can."
But tennis is in Barty's blood.
Ever since she started teaching herself by hitting balls against the wall of the living room with a squash racket in Brisbane at the age of three.
"When I heard (that) it reminded me," said Goolagong, Barty's idol, mentor and fellow Indigenous sports great, who learned to play tennis with a board from an apple crate rather than a racket.
"When I saw Ash for the first time, he made me proud.
"She was playing at the Australian Open and (my husband) Roger and I stopped and watched for a bit and we saw a whole point where she showed all the skills.
"She sliced, volleyed, smashed. Everything in a game and we both looked at each other and thought 'Oh, she got it, she's going to be our next champion.'"
"Then look at him now."