Daniela leaves dark days behind

The tears of 12 months ago a distant memory, Daniela Hantuchova has learnt how to be happy again, how to smile and how to win.

The sight of the frail Slovak openly weeping between points as she lost to Japan's Shinobu Asagoe on Wimbledon's number two court in the most public of mental breakdowns last year remains an uncomfortable image of the 2003 championships.

On Tuesday the engaging 21-year-old was all smiles after a 6-1, 6-4 victory over American Samantha Reeves.

"I feel really great and really happy to be back," she said. "I have just put totally the last year behind me, and I'm just focused on my future, you know, making sure that I do everything that's in my control to get where I want to be.

"And everything seems to be in place now, and I think things are going the right way now."

Physically, Hantuchova looks a different person from the player here last year.

She will always be thin -- that is her constitution -- but she no longer looks like a frail figure of pity.

She is back with coach Nigel Sears after a short break and seemingly enjoying life again.

"Well, I don't think I have to go into the details again," she smiled nervously. "I think everyone saw it last year, that I was struggling a little bit and that things were not going the way I wanted.

"BEHIND ME"

"But, as I said, it's behind me now and I'm really focused on what's happening now.

"The main thing for me is really just to enjoy what I do on the court and have fun and be relaxed because I guess that's where I play my best tennis.

"I think it's more about being calmer and just trusting my game and just playing every point as it comes and not to get ahead of myself."

Having been ranked as high as five in the world, she is now wallowing at 38th, but sees this dip in ranking as a positive.

"It takes a lot of pressure away from me," she said. "And I feel like now I can kind of just surprise and be really dangerous, and I've got nothing to lose, nothing to defend, so I'm really enjoying this position to be at right now.

"My ambitions are still there, very high. And I always have had high expectations for myself. That's maybe sometimes why I put so much pressure on myself. So now I know how to deal with those things better.

"I'm still aiming very high... How high? Well, number one, for sure," she grinned.