It took Mirjana Lucic-Baroni another lifetime to reach her first Australian Open quarterfinals.
On Sunday, she defeated American qualifier Jennifer Brady, 6-4, 6-2, and the 34-year-old had a special message for anyone who’s ever faced adversity.
“F–k everything and everybody who ever tells you you can’t do it,” Lucic-Baroni said during the on-court interview. “Just show up and do it with your heart.”
Lucic-Baroni’s run at the season’s first grand slam is one of the surprises of the tournament. In 1998, when she was 15 years old, she won the Australian Open doubles title alongside Martina Hingis. At 17, she reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon singles draw.
But what looked to be the start of greatness quickly fell apart. Later that year, the Croatian — then known as Lucic, before her eventual marriage to Daniele Baroni — accused her father and coach, Marinko, of physically and mentally abusing her for 10 years. She alleged he beat her and stole her prize money, allegations which he denied. Lucic-Baroni, with her mother and four siblings, fled Croatia for the United States.
Within a year of her Wimbledon success, she fell out of the top 100, and Lucic-Baroni quit the sport from 2003 to 2007.
It took the self-proclaimed “tough little cookie” almost a decade to return to the high-level tennis she seemed destined for. Lucic-Baroni’s breakthrough was an upset of No. 2 seed Simona Halep in the fourth round of the 2014 US Open, and she has continued her resurgence at this year’s Aussie Open, including a dominant performance against third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round.
Up next, a challenging but winnable quaterfinal against fifth-seeded Karolina Pliskova. Can Lucic-Baroni continue her Cinderella run?
“When I want something, I will work really hard,” an emotional Lucic-Baroni said. “I will work really hard and I will do whatever it takes to get it.”