Former champion Yanina Wickmayer is concerned more about getting through the ASB Classic pain-free than with the prospect of a third consecutive appearance in the final.
Wickmayer, 22, heads into Auckland tournament and the start of a new season having been through the longest lay-off in her career, after a back injury forced her to retire from the US Open in August.
"Five months is a pretty long time - it's half a year - so it feels weird to be back on tour and to see everyone again," she said.
Apart from a doubles exhibition, Wickmayer hasn't play since the US Open, and she is unsure what her form will be like during the Classic, which begins on Monday.
At the same time, there won't be the same expectations on her.
"There's no pressure on my shoulders now," she said.
"I've been injured a long time. For myself, it's just important to keep playing matches without having pain.
"If that goes okay, then I can go and set my goals for this year."
Wickmayer won the Classic in 2010, defeating Italian Flavia Pennetta in the decider to pick up the third of her three career WTA Tour titles.
The victory also helped her to her career-best ranking of 12 three months later.
Last January, as the No.2 seed, she looked on course for a successful defence of her Auckland crown before being upset at the last hurdle by unseeded Hungarian Greta Arn.
Her present ranking of 26 makes her the Classic's seventh seed and she is one of four seeded players who will face a qualifier in the first round.
NZN