Brisbane QLD, Australia, 28 December 2017 | tennis.com.au

Sam Stosur is soon to kick off her Aussie summer campaign at the Brisbane International, feeling confident after productive pre-season preparation.

The world No.41, who was felled by a hand injury for almost four months in the second half of 2017, had the opportunity to spend more time than normal training in her home state.

Her parents live on the Gold Coast while coach Josh Eagle is also based in Queensland, giving her off-season a more relaxed feel.

“I’ve been staying at home with mum and dad and (enjoying) a lot of good cooking from them,” Stosur said.

“It’s been probably a bit more of an unconventional pre-season in some ways but it’s been really good.

“To do well here (in Brisbane) would be an amazing feeling but I’m not going to weight my whole year and rest of career on the next three, four weeks.”

In seven previous visits to the Brisbane International, Stosur has never gone beyond the second round. But she’s gone close; in 2016 she fell 6-4 in the third set to Carla Suarez Navarro.

In the first round in 2017 she came within a whisker of knocking out reigning Roland Garros champion Garbine Muguruza before falling 7-5 in the third.

Yet in her last tournament to close the 2017 season in Hong Kong, Stosur advanced to the quarterfinals, and felt she was approaching the form that she enjoyed at Roland Garros before the hand injury hampered her in a fourth-round loss.

“It was really good to test myself there (in Asia) and I feel like I’ve been able to do exactly what I’ve needed to do,” Stosur said.

“(Then) I was able to spend a few weeks up in Queensland as well so that was even a nice little change having been in Melbourne so long in my time off.

“I’ve got I guess four or five days until I need to be absolutely 100 per cent ready, but yeah I’m looking forward to getting started.

“I want to try and get out here and try and play well, put all the practice I’ve been doing over the last six or seven weeks into play, and hopefully play some of my best tennis.”