Twelve months ago Nick Kyrgios was given a wild card entry into the French Open.
He hadn't knocked over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon. Nor had he reached the final eight of two grand slams.
Twelve months ago the thought of being in the same room as childhood hero Roger Federer intimidated him, now he's added arguably the greatest player of all time to his growing list of famous scalps.
The last time he arrived at Roland Garros he was still a teenager ranked at No.160 in the world.
Now, the 20-year-old heads into his first grand slam as a seed, and while the scenes of hysteria that followed him in Melbourne at the Australian Open this year won't be repeated in Paris, the expectation is only gathering momentum.
"It's a completely different feel than back home," the world No.30 told Fairfax Media on the eve of his French Open campaign.
"All the French guys here have all the expectation. I've obviously got expectation back home but it's a lot different. The crowds aren't following me as much as they were in Australia. The people surrounding me ... there's not so much of that here as there was in Australia.
"At the Australian Open, everywhere I went and everything I did, there was always someone there, maybe filming or just following me. While that's not the case here, I think there's still high expectations of the young Australians here. We're expected to do well here."
After adopting the tag of being the face of the Australian Open in January, perhaps this is what normal feels like.
"Normal?" Kyrgios said.
"I wouldn't say I feel normal. I'm at a grand slam in my 20th year. No normal person gets to do that."
And no normal person knows what it feels like to get one over Federer, a feat Kyrgios accomplished in Madrid a fortnight ago.
It's the victory on clay against the Swiss legend that Kyrgios says he will draw plenty of confidence from heading into the French Open.
"I think I've come down from that now, but it was an unbelievable win in Madrid," Kyrgios said.
"That was about two or three weeks ago now. I've played a lot of matches since then. I gained a lot of confidence from that win, especially doing it on clay. That's where I'm drawing my confidence from, but that win will be with me for the rest of my life.
"It was a pretty special moment. I had a pretty big team with me that week. We put a lot of work in on and off the court. It was a massive, massive win. To play the greatest of all time and have success against him was something I won't ever forget."
In his breakthrough season last year, Kyrgios struggled with the rigours of life on the road.
So much so, he wanted to come home.
He's been away on tour for six weeks, and while he admits he's still struggling with homesickness, he is a lot more comfortable with the tennis lifestyle than he was this time last year.
"It's still tough. I've been away from home for about six weeks now," Kyrgios said.
"It's getting tougher every week now but that's just tennis life. You're always travelling, you're always away from home and away from friends and family. It's just something I have to keep dealing with and deal with it in the right way and not let it affect my game.
"I definitely feel as if I'm handling it a lot better. I have some of my family members here with me now. Mum just flew in so she's here with me. I think I'm handling it a lot better than I did last year."
Kyrgios avoids the big-name players in the first round given he comes into the grand slam as a seed for the first time, drawing Uzbeki Denis Istomin in the opening round.
"It's pretty special being seeded for the first time in a grand slam; it shows how much I've progressed from last year," Kyrgios said.
"I got a wild card here [before]. Now I'm seeded. It's pretty special. I didn't set goals to be seeded in grand slams this early in my career. But I knew over the last couple of weeks that if I did have some good results, I could be seeded. It helps with the draw not hitting some of the big names first round. It's a good thing. I feel confident wherever I step out. It's no different on clay either.
"I'm playing some of the best clay court tennis I've played in a long time. I've had some good results the last couple of weeks and I feel confident on the clay. I've won around here before so I know I can play on this surface. I think I have the game to win on all surfaces. I'm really confident of having a good week here. I think physicality is the main thing. I feel as if I'm much better physically now and feel ready to compete and go long distance on clay as well.
"I think I'm a bit more well known now, a year round," Kyrgios said.
"Last year I hadn't really played many grand slam matches, but now I've been deep in a couple of grand slams and also played a lot more matches. I think people are now starting to know what's coming."
