Moments after picking up the phone, Andorra’s Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva reveals she is making solid progress as she works her way through American teen drama series Pretty Little Liars.

It is a sign of the times that Jimenez Kasintseva is holed up in a hotel room with her parents, quarantining as she prepares to take her place in Australian Open qualifying, which gets underway on Sunday, in Dubai.

The left-hander was granted a wild card into qualifying after her blistering and ultimately triumphant showing on her Junior Grand Slam debut in Melbourne 12 months ago, while she is now just three victories from mixing it with the game’s elite.

There are significant hurdles to clear but Jimenez Kasintseva – who is just 15 years old – has earned this right and is within touching distance of her maiden appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam. She is also very aware of the prize on offer.

“I think about it [reaching the main draw] all the time,” Jimenez Kasintseva told itftennis.com.

“I know that I am just a 15-year-old and don’t have pressure because if I lose it is not really a problem. I’m not supposed to win here, I am here to learn because I am playing with girls and women who are older than me and have a lot more experience.

“But I see myself having a little chance of winning and I love winning. I can maybe, just maybe, see myself going to Australia in the main draw.

“But whether I reach the man draw, lose in the first, second or third round of qualifying, I am just looking forward to learning from this tournament, learning from the other players, watching them and their routines, fighting and applying that to my own training for what’s next.”

Whatever does happen in Dubai, Jimenez Kasintseva has big ambitions for the new season, during which she hopes to make significant strides within the professional ranks and add further junior silverware to her collection.

Her trophy-winning antics at last year’s Australian Open have fuelled her appetite for further titles, while 2020 was a year which saw lessons learned from both her many successes and the occasional setback.

For most of the campaign, Jimenez Kasintseva was the No. 1 girl on the planet before slipping behind France’s Elsa Jacquemot following October’s Roland Garros Junior Championships, although it was a rankings race which went the distance.

But it was her defeat to Russia’s Alina Charaeva in the second round at Roland Garros which perhaps had the biggest impact upon her, the fallout from which is now viewed as a significant learning experience.

“Roland Garros wasn’t the best tournament for me as I was thinking too much about being No. 1,” said Jimenez Kasintseva.

“I knew that with a good result in Paris I would stay No.1 and after winning my first Junior Grand Slam I thought that I would just win another one. I didn’t go their mentally prepared that I could lose in any moment and after losing I didn’t feel good.

“It was pretty hard for me. I lost an opportunity to be No. 1 and I wasn’t thinking about the tournament, playing my matches, fighting, which I need to do to win.

“I was playing with insecurities and had a lot of pressure. There were a lot of people commenting about back-to-back Junior Grand Slams and I was thinking too much about those messages and not about myself.

“At every tournament you learn something and at Roland Garros I learned a lot. I needed to learn that I am going to have this throughout my career and I must learn to accept it, mind my own business, focus on my work and do my routines.

“That is what I learned. I will be with this pressure all my life and I am very lucky to have this pressure.”

Most, if not all, players who have enjoyed stellar careers have endured rocky moments and periods of instability during their formative years. From the outside, however, the prodigiously talented teenager enters the new season on the back of a thoroughly productive year.

She recovered her poise following those Roland Garros woes to win her second junior title of the season – and the eighth of her career – at Plovdiv in Bulgaria, while she also made her presence felt professionally.

The first match-wins in her new surroundings arrived as she reached the semi-finals at W15 Melilla in September, a tally which Jimenez Kasintseva will look to build upon in the coming months, potentially at the Australian Open.

“I still cannot believe I won the Australian Open Junior Championships – and I can’t believe it has almost been a year – but I competed very well in that tournament,” added Jimenez Kasintseva. “That tournament opened lots of doors for me and really helped me in my career.

“I won this opportunity to go into qualifying and it’s an incredible opportunity. Going from juniors and having a chance to go to the main draw is something which can really help me.

“This year is going to be different than past years because of Covid: at all these tournaments we have to do the tests and quarantine and it is a bit more difficult compared to before.

“But I am very happy and I think all the players feel lucky that we have a chance to play. This year I am entering a new level of play. I am going to play more professional tournaments but I am still going to play juniors and see if I can finish junior No. 1.

“It is obviously going to be a very tough year but I fought all my life for this and I’m very happy that I’ve got here. In terms of aims, I am just going to say some crazy achievements.

“I would love to win a match, even if it’s just one, in the Australian Open qualifying, win another Junior Grand Slam and some professional tournaments. They would be crazy achievements [at this stage], almost impossible – a dream.”

Dreams, on occasions, do come true.