Dellacqua's mission, in part, was to make her case to Fed Cup captain Alicia Molik for a place in next week's opening-round tie in Slovakia, in which she has since been named with Sam Stosur, Jarmila Wolfe and debutante Kimberly Birrell. But, however briefly, it was also just nice to be back at the grand slam venue where the popular West Australian was among the last 16 in 2008 and 2014, and a doubles runner-up with Ash Barty in 2013.

Tennis, indeed, has been less of a focus for Dellacqua in recent months than the post-concussion syndrome that plagued her after a fall at the China Open in October. It was at match point in her doubles semi-final with partner Yaroslova Shvedova, with whom she had qualified for the rich year-end WTA Finals in Singapore. Dellacqua was backpedalling, a bit uncertainly, tripped, fell and was still trying to make the shot - it was match point, after all, she was "desperate", she laughs - when her head crashed onto the hard, very hard, court.

"Everyone on the side heard my head kind of bang," she recalled. "The match was pretty much over, but I don't even remember finishing it. I had heaps of nausea, I was vomiting after the match and I was in the hospital there for a bit. It kind of knocked me around. And it's a bit of a weird tennis injury."

Dellacqua has had plenty of the more conventional kind, having previously missed seasons with serious foot and shoulder issues, but this was different. Many weeks after the mishap, she was still dizzy, sore and forgetful, needing to nap to get through every day, and then struggling to sleep at night. The whiplash was another element. "My body was just so out of whack from what had happened."

Gradually, she has returned to normal, but not in time to partner Lleyton Hewitt in his final Hopman Cup in her home town, or to contest the grand slam she loves, and where she has done so well. She could not do a regular pre-season, "so I'm kind of a little bit behind with everything. But I feel good, and physically I'm symptom-free now, so I can train. I'm good, yeah."

The left-hander is ready to play a doubles role in a Fed Cup team without the for-now-ineligible Gavrilova for the world group II fixture in Bratislava on February 6-7. "I went to Melbourne to practise and put myself in a position that they could kind of let me know if I would be ready for something like that, but physically and all that, I'm all great, and ready to go," Dellacqua said.

Afterwards, she may return to Challenger level, before contesting singles qualifying at Indian Wells and Miami. Doubles, for the moment, will be the focus for the No.120 in singles, formerly No.26, as she eases back in after such a long break. "But I still definitely want to continue with my singles, so as long as my body can do it, if I can get back there and stay healthy, I'm still planning on playing both, yeah."

Rio is a focus, a big one, for the dual Olympian's ranking makes her eligible for a third Games, in both mixed - possibly with Victorian John Peers - and women's doubles, partner unknown. "Rio would be great. I've been to a couple of Olympics, but it would be great to represent Australia at one more."

Another baby, too, is soon to arrive, with partner Amanda, who is about 25 weeks along - even if the couple's toddler son Blake, is slightly less enthused about the idea. "He's not too impressed at the moment. He's had a lot of attention and stuff, so he always says 'no brother, no sister', and we're like 'well, there'll be one coming'!" she laughed. " But we've loved being parents and we're very excited to have another one join us."

That will be in May, probably, but career-wise, there is no real timetable as to whether retirement is one/two/however many years away; just the acknowledgement that these are "the latter stages" of the almost-31-year-old Dellacqua's career. "But in saying that, if it was a case where I played doubles for a bit longer than singles, I'm not really sure entirely. But with all my injuries over the years, even though I know that I'm getting older, I still feel quite young."