Gabriela Dabrowski is in Melbourne today, preparing for the start of the Australian Open junior tennis tournament. Last week, she was two hours away in Traralgon for a tune-up event. In the weeks before that, Dabrowski was hitting serves and volleys at competitions in Costa Rica and Mexico.

She left for the Mexican tournament on Christmas Eve, following a brief but "necessary" mental break at her Blossom Park home. The pit stop in Ottawa came after a heavy slate of events in early December, culminating in her victory at the prestigious Orange Bowl championship in Key Biscayne, Florida, a triumph that vaulted the 17-year-old to No. 5 in the world junior rankings.

When the Australian Open wraps up, Dabrowski will leave for another tournament on the southern Australian island of Tasmania, followed by a series of low-profile Challenger professional events in the southern U.S.
"The last few months have been filled with a lot of travel," Dabrowski says in a telephone interview during some rare down time Down Under. "At this time last year, well, really from mid-November on, I was based in Florida for six months. It was more about training.

Now, it's time to start playing. My priorities have changed."

Indeed, Dabrowski is turning the corner from being a junior star to the cutthroat world of professional tennis.

Her tennis progress isn't surprising to those who first saw her natural gifts. When she was seven, she stumbled across a racquet, went to the neighbourhood public courts and shocked the 10-year-old family friend she was playing with by smacking the balls. Dabrowski's parents, Wanda and Yurek, followed up by taking her to a lesson, with little idea of what was in store.

"Normally, a seven-year-old comes to a lesson, hits a few balls and has some fun," says Tony Milo, then a tennis pro at the Ottawa Athletic Club, who now runs his own academy at Carleton University.

"From the very first ball she hit, you could tell she had something. Her eyes were so large. She was ready to go. She took it all in. The competitivess. The focus. It was always, 'one more,' 'let's do it again.' She was incredibly self-motivated, even then."

At nine, Dabrowski advanced to the finals of the Ontario under-14 girls championships. At 13, she was invited to share a tennis court at Scotiabank Place with John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Anna Kournikova and Jana Novotna during a celebrity event. At 14, she won the title at Les Petits As tournament in Tarbes, France, the first Canadian player to win one of the world's most prestigious under-14 tournaments.

Yet with competition thin in Ottawa, Dabrowski has spent the winters of her teen years in Florida, sacrificing a typical upbringing in exchange for hitting thousands upon thousands of practice balls alongside other top juniors and select professionals at the Saddlebrook Academy in Tampa. A highlight was rallying for three hours with former tennis great Martina Hingis.

It hasn't come cheaply.

Dabrowski's parents have dropped a cool $300,000 to give her access to the world class instruction, top tournament competition, travel and equipment. Yurek also took a three-year leave of absence from his job at the Westin Hotel to live with his daughter in Florida, acting as coach, manager, hitting partner, trainer, travel secretary and racquet stringer.

In the past few months, her father has slid into the background as Dabrowksi trains at the national facility in Montreal. She's now travelling with a coach from Tennis Canada. By doing so, the family has given up some control in exchange for the national association covering her costs.

(A Tennis Canada mixup last weekend resulted in Dabrowski missing her quarter-final match in Traralgon. She also didn't play in a scheduled semifinal doubles match in Costa Rica because Canadian officials couldn't reschedule her flights to Australia.)

Dabrowski is down to earth. She knows it's a long road to the top, full of bumps and roadblocks. Winning one point at a crucial moment of one match often makes all the difference between an early exit and a decent payday. Win enough matches in low-profile tournaments and the world ranking improves, providing access to the higher-calibre, bigger money events.

Dabrowski is currently ranked 780th in the world in singles and 465th in doubles, largely because of the limited number of pro events she's played. Due to the fact she turns 18 on April 1, she's also eligible to play the major junior events throughout the 2010 calendar year.

A hectic pace, she says, is crucial to realize her dreams of one day representing Canada at the Olympics and staring across the net at players like Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.

"I hope to win one of the junior Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open) and it would be nice to finish the year ranked somewhere between 250th and 300th," she said.

There were times in the past when she would catch herself thinking about the lonely life she was living. No longer. She has gained a renewed confidence by battling through tough tournaments, including the Orange Bowl victory.

"I just feel that tennis is a really big sacrifice," she says. "It's about playing matches and sucking it up. If you have a little pain, it's about holding on and playing through it. That's where it matters, especially when you're playing against players you should beat. It's just part of tennis, even the top professionals go through that. They're on the road so much. They understand what it takes."

Tennis Canada coach Sylvain Bruneau says Dabrowski has all the tools to be a top-ranked player, including a mental toughness many other naturally gifted players don't possess.

"She really wants it, she's determined to become a professional player and physically ready to become a professional player," says Bruneau, claiming Dabrowski has the potential to reach the heights of Aleksandra Wozniak, Canada's top-ranked player, currently rated 34th in the world.

"Mentally, she has made it very clear where she wants to go. There's a lot of competition and all of the players have so much talent, but you also have to be very tough mentally. It's a tough life. It's a one-on-one sport. You have to be prepared to go after it every day."