Laura Robson squeezed in an ascent up Vesuvius before her surprise call-up to the US Open but now she has another mountain to climb.
The 22-year-old faces fellow Briton Naomi Broady in the first round on Tuesday, looking for her first major victory since winning here in 2013, following a nightmare two years of injuries.
She has momentum, after coming through three testing matches in qualifying, but Robson was on another continent until a late call came on Monday.
Convinced she would not be given a wild card to play at Flushing Meadows, Robson had flown to Italy for a holiday with her friends.
"I played my final in Landisville on Sunday and and no-one thought there was any chance of me getting a wild card," Robson said.
"I was on the phone to Max (Eisenbud, her agent), and he was like, 'I'm not getting any good vibes from the USTA', so he was just going, 'yeah, go home'.
"Then next morning, on the Monday, I was like, 'I am supposed to get on this flight, should I go?' Everyone just goes, 'yeah, yeah, only a 10 percent chance'.
"It was one of those things where I sort of knew in the back of my mind it was going to happen because as soon as you plan for it not to
"I landed in Italy at like 9am, went up Vesuvius and did a bit of Pompeii and went straight back to the airport, so I had a great time.
"I dropped my friends off at the villa, which was amazing, and then turned around and came back."
Robson's friends have been sending her holiday snaps of what she is missing but the world number 247 will not mind.
Once considered one of the game's rising stars, Robson was given a reality check at Wimbledon when she was thrashed - in her own words "duffed up" - by world number two Angelique Kerber.
It prompted a change of attitude, where she no longer pines for the player she once was.
"I'm not really looking at it that way any more," Robson said. "I maybe was at the start of the year when I still had my protected ranking but it's a totally different vibe for me now.
"I put so much pressure on myself every time I entered a tournament with my protected ranking to do well because you feel like you have to win to get your ranking back up quicker to then be in positions like this.
"I don't think it was a healthy way of thinking about it and I kind of let that all go after Wimbledon.
"I had a couple of horrendous Challengers but you just have to keep thinking it's going to come together and I knew that when it did I'd be ready for it because I'd put the work in, so as soon as that happened, I feel a lot freer."
Robson arrived from Italy with conjunctivitis in her eye but, now recovered, she is preparing to face Broady, the British number three, ranked 164 spots above her.
Whatever the result, she has made progress.
"Initially, when I was coming back, I just lost the joy of playing a little bit," Robson said. "It was such a grind for me trying to get through a tournament and stay healthy.
"I'm just enjoying it. If it works out, great; if it doesn't, it's not the end of the world.
"My mum always says to me: 'It's just a tennis match.' Although I did call her and she was tearing up a bit. So she says that, but it means a lot."
Source: PA
