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It's a decade since Ash Barty first walked through the gates of the All England Club as a scared kid - but she took the girls' title and has never looked back.

When Ash Barty recalls entering the hallowed portals of the All England Club for the first time a decade ago, she can picture this 15-year-old Queensland kid gazing around Wimbledon's green acres with awe, excitement - and feeling as scared as hell.

"It's just remarkable to think how raw I was, how inexperienced and how everything was so new, really scary and really big. Yeah, it feels like a lifetime ago," smiled Barty, as she reflected on the 10th anniversary of her girls' title win.

It was the start of her love affair with Wimbledon and when she entered those same gates this year - not as an unknown Aussie teenager but as the best woman player in the world - she reckoned the goosebumps felt exactly the same.

The only thing that had changed was her.

"I've learned so much between now and then, grown so much as a person and a tennis player," said Barty.

"These days, I'm a lot more calm, I feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin.

"And I know all the work I do behind the scenes with my team is enough for me to be the best version of myself.

"But I think every single time I walk through the gates here at the All England Club, I remember those junior Wimbledon matches and the experience as being an incredibly positive and exciting one."

Barty dropped just one set that week - to another kid called Madison Keys, who also ended up not doing too badly for herself as a US Open finalist.

But it hasn't always been plain sailing at SW19 for Barty.

She never won a singles at the Club for another seven years after 2011, losing in the first round as a 16-year-old wildcard, missing out at qualifying at nearby Roehampton the next three years and being beaten first up in 2017.

She made it to the last-32 the following year but, having just been crowned world No.1 and French Open champ, the fourth round loss to Alison Riske the last time she was here in 2019 felt undeniably anti-climactic.

"I've had some really tough times here and some exceptional memories - and both have given me such an opportunity for growth," she shrugged. "It's a place I'll always hold very close to my heart."

And those goosebumps? "It's every time. This club has so much history. In a way, tennis was born here and to be privileged to play on these courts year in year out, it's something I'll never take for granted."

When she returned home to a huge fuss as girls' champ in 2011, she was congratulated back in Brisbane by Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, the trailblazer who's still her idol.

Yet Barty could never have imagined then that, a decade later, she'd be featuring in the Tuesday Centre Court opening match slot traditionally reserved for the previous year's champion, offering her own special tribute to her mentor.

For half-a-century on from Goolagong winning her first title, Barty, a Ngarigo Indigenous woman who grew up in Queensland, will be paying tribute to her Wiradjuri friend from New South Wales in a match that the world will be watching.

How great is that, thinks Barty.

She'll be wearing a version of Goolagong's iconic dress in her contest against inspirational Spanish cancer survivor Carla Suarez Navarro and reckons it will be a day for all Australians to savour.

It's been a fascinating road for Barty following her 2020 gap year, a glorious world tour featuring three titles having been followed by six weeks of injury worries and uncertainty.

Yet the unchanging nature of Wimbledon in a pandemic-hit sport brings its own reassurance.

"Once you're on the court, nothing feels really like it's changed. For me, my court is still my sanctuary, it's my bubble - the place where I know I just get to go out there and compete and enjoy and do what I love.

"And that's the part I'm really looking forward to here at Wimbledon - competing on some of the most beautiful courts in the world.

"One day I would love to be the champion here. It's a dream. It's a goal. Dreams don't always come true, but you can fight and do everything you can to give yourself that opportunity.

"You can dare to dream, you can try and dream big."

And nowhere has kindled Barty's dreams quite like Wimbledon.