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Australian No.2 Ajla Tomljanovic, still striving to unlock her potential, has a friend who may be able to help her find the key - the great Chris Evert.

Ajla Tomljanovic will keep seeking to unlock her potential - with the help of an illustrious friend and neighbour, Chris Evert.

The Australian No.2, left gloomy about another early grand slam exit at the French Open, remains nothing if not optimistic, still believing that a dramatic upturn in fortunes could be just round the corner.

That seems understandable from a player of Tomljanovic's ability.

But even she sounds frustrated that some sort of mental issue has stopped her getting past the last 16 of any tour-level event now since September 2019.

So she reckons she won't be shy to try to find an answer to this frustrating sequence from Evert, who ran the academy in Florida where the young Croatian-born prospect trained as a teenager and who's now become a firm friend and mentor.

"Chrissie, how she was, was pretty impressive and a lot of it came naturally to her," said Tomljanovic, of the mental strength that helped power the American legend to 18 grand slam singles titles.

"Talking to her, though, always helps. She keeps things very simple and she gets to the point very quickly.

"I always like to keep in touch with her and we always do. I see her almost every day when I'm back in Boca Raton training.

"But at the end of the day, no matter how much I talk to her or anyone else, I know I'm the one on the court and I have to figure it out for myself.

"It's frustrating, but it's also keeping me going, because I know it can click any week I play.

"It'll just take little things to go in the right direction - one or two weeks to have that breakthrough, a little bit of luck, a week of playing good tennis.

"If I felt that was far away, it would be much less exciting."

The sort of thrilling performance she delivered at the Australian Open, when she had world No.2 Simona Halep reeling at 5-2 down in the final set, is what Tomljanovic is seeking to rediscover.

Only next time the story had to have a winning conclusion, she felt.

"My game's still there. I know how well I'm hitting the ball, and I've seen it in practice and in glimpses of matches. It's more of a mental thing now," said Tomljanovic, who believes she's still improving at the age of 28.

When asked about what's been holding her back - her ranking is now at 76 compared to her career-best 39 two years ago - she added with a shrug: "I can't say it's just one thing.

"Everyone's playing good tennis now. The competition is way stronger than it used to be, because I feel I'm a better player than I was, I feel that I'm still improving, even if I've got a way to go in that department too.

"On the mental side, I sometimes feel like I want it too much, and then it backfires on me a little bit.

"But I don't mind that in a way, because I'm still here and I love doing it, I love coming back every week trying to figure it out like a puzzle."