Winning a maiden major is Elina Svitolina's ultimate aim.
Svitolina is hoping new coach Marcos Baghdatis' attention to fine detail can help her realize her big-picture goal.
Osaka: Near-Death Inspires New Perspective
Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up to Roger Federer, joined long-time head coach Andrew Bettles on Svitolina's team during the offseason and made the trip to Australia for the season's first Grand Slam.
Fresh off successive semifinals at Wimbledon and the US Open, Svitolina has reached the Australian Open quarterfinals in each of the last two years.Svitolina hopes Baghdatis' perspective can help her break through to her first Grand Slam final.
"Well, for sure, as an ex-player he sees the game from his point and it's something different that I was looking for, is to add into my game," Svitolina said before bowing to Danielle Collins in Brisbane. "For sure we improved massively with Andy for the past years I've been working with him and he knows me very, very good.
"And for me it's important to add the small things that can improve my game and that's what I'm looking for, and I'm very happy that it's been going well so far. I really enjoy the atmosphere when we are all three of us on the court and that's been going well so far."
Asked if Baghdatis, who famously destroyed a series of racquets during a stick-smashing frenzy at the 2012 Australian Open, had offered any advice on racquet abuse, Svitolina replied "Well, no, hopefully not. I love my racquet, so I don't want to do that."
Photo credit: Elina Svitolina Instagram