Seventeen-year-old Slovenian Kaja Juvan, a former junior Wimbledon doubles champion, has hit the ground running in her transition to the professional game - claiming her first Pro Circuit titles at $25,000 level this summer. In the last of a three-part blog series for the ITF, Juvan reflects on how she got into tennis, her goals for the future and how being handed an ITF Junior Player Grant is helping her succeed.

My Dad plays quite a lot of tennis and my Mum used to play a little bit. When I was younger, they used to take me to a place in Croatia where there was a tennis camp every May, and that's where I started the game. My Mum and Dad had been going there for years, even before I was born, so we carried on going when I was growing up. I always wanted to do sports and I think I was quite hard to handle as a kid. I wanted to do everything and I wanted to do it by myself. My Dad put a racket in my hand when I was about two years old, but I did a lot of different things when I was younger. I started playing tennis properly at home when I was five.

I was always saying to everyone I'm going to be the best in tennis even though I was really young. Everyone would laugh at me. I was a really competitive child. I cried at everything when I lost, board games, sports, everything. No-one wanted to play with me! But when I started winning in tennis, that's when I discovered my motivation. I started to get more into it when I was 14, and began practicing much harder. I'm still doing high school I don't want to throw my education away but I'm starting to get more and more professional. If I work hard and persist in my game then I can get to a higher level.

I'm based in Llubijana and I've just finished my third year of high-school so I still have one more year left. I was doing normal high school for two and a half years and I was just exhausted because it was a really good school, one of the best in Slovenia. I tried to manage the workload, but last year I had a really hard defeat and it was because of school. I was really tired, so I decided then that enough was enough - I was going to put everything I had into tennis. I went on to a private high school - still a good school, but it means I can play a bit more - so I actually left a really good school for tennis. I hope I made the right decision.

When I was 15, I played three junior Grand Slams (losing in the first round at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open) and I feel like I probably wasn't ready to play them. Two were hard courts, which was not my favourite surface and I was not feeling confident back then. I played really good tennis at Wimbledon, but I lost to [Marta] Kostyuk in the first round. Of course there was disappointment back then, but on the other hand it just made me want it more. If I win my first professional Grand Slam round then I can say it's my first one ever, so maybe that will make it a bit more special!

I won the 2017 girls' doubles title at Wimbledon [with Olga Danilovic] and it was a really great feeling to be there. Every professional [at a Grand Slam] has actually done something and they are really good players. When you win a junior Grand Slam, you get a trophy and you get to go to the Ball. It's great to see and it just makes you want to come back again as a professional. They treat you really well. Going to the ball and seeing all the people there was amazing - they are all really inspiring.

My birthday is at the end of November so I only have five more tournaments I can play this year before I turn 18. I'm going to practice a bit more then take six weeks of vacation from tennis, 4-5 weeks preparation, then I'm going to play as many events as I can and get as high as possible. I don't want to put pressure on myself for these tournaments, so I'll just try to enjoy them and then when I turn 18 I'll be able to play an unlimited amount of tournaments. Hopefully in the near future I'll be able to play qualifying at Grand Slams. For now I have a lot of physical work to do. I have to work on my mental and physical game, and then I think the results will come.

I was one of 15 players to receive one of the first ever ($25,000) to help with my transition to the professional game. It's really nice to have some help. In tennis you spend a lot of money and unless you're Top 150 or Top 200 you're not making money. I have some good contracts with sponsors and they are all helping and this year I'm so glad I have so much support. Especially with the ITF grant we're taking the money and spending it all on tennis and on tournaments.

The ITF made it a lot easier for me this year. Before that my parents were paying for everything and it's a real burden on them. I'm really glad I got the ITF grant because not a lot of people got it, and I'm glad that I'm able to be one of those they gave it to. It's really nice to see that people believe in me and they want to help me succeed.

Kaja Juvan was speaking to the ITF's Jamie Renton, who put this blog together on her behalf.