Inspired by figure skating, with a background in dancing, boxing and chess, combined with an outstanding season-long stint in college tennis, it’s easy to see why Diana Shnaider is one of the most exciting and explosive prospects on the WTA Tour.

"I was doing a lot of other activities when I was young until I moved to Moscow to train and play tournaments around eight years old," Shnaider told The Hong Kong Open.

"My parents wanted me to be healthy and try different things, they let us find what worked for us.

"Say four until eight, alongside tennis I was doing classic dancing, I was playing chess, and I was playing piano [like her mother]. Slowly everything got taken over. I still can play chess. In juniors me and my dad would take a set with us to play a lot of games. It was always tennis I enjoyed the most, even in the child years. "

Her father, Maxim, trained in boxing, which was another element in her rounded physical upbringing.

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"Actually, for a year or two at 14, 15 I didn’t have a fitness coach. So I was using boxing for fitness work," she said. "It's really fun, really hard, I was going there with my younger brother, so it was even funnier for me."

During her first full professional campaign, the 20-year-old continues to chalk up impressive results after catapulting up from World No.60 to No.14 and fans heading to Victoria Park this week will be lucky to witness the WTA 250 Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open 2024 top seed live in action.

The highlights of 2024 are pretty extensive for Shnaider, a left-hander. She's won her first three WTA titles, all on different surfaces, as well as Paris Olympics doubles silver medal alongside Mirra Andreeva. Shnaider reached the third round at Wimbledon, the fourth round at the US Open and defeated Coco Gauff en route to a first WTA 1000 semifinal in Toronto.   

"I think it's the variety I can bring to the different surfaces,” she said. “On each one, you know you have plusses and minuses in your game and you just need to do what you can to gain advantages.

"I think my results weren't always [pointing up] from the beginning of the year. It was slowly progressing and definitely more matches with top players, in top tournaments has helped my game.

"2023 I missed a lot with my college studies and playing college tennis, so for every player I just think it takes time and experience to adjust your game, preparation for the tour."

Shnaider cut short her time at North Carolina University after just one year in 2023, itching to head out on tour and prove her potential.

"I feel like we were practicing like on the tour,” said Schnaider, currently ranked No.14. “We were playing a lot of matches, every week you had an opportunity to learn, to take on different types of players, we traveled a lot. It was all very intense.

"We were also very lucky with the coaching, they were looking to prepare players to go professional, not just being good at college. It all gave me more confidence and a perfect platform."

Talk of a breakout 2024 prompts a beaming cheek-to-cheek smile. It's pure pride.

"I feel like the whole season has been great. If I had to choose, I'll go with three highlights," Shnaider said.

"I really want to say how proud I was with my week in Bad Homburg [just a fourth career event on grass]. I wasn't expecting I could be that good on the grass, so it was surprising for me. It was a great tournament, beating some great opponents [Kerber, Navarro, Badosa and Vekic.]

"Second week of a Grand Slam at the US Open, I was aiming for that and proud I could so soon.

"And just to be in an Olympics. It was a big goal and I'm very happy that I had that opportunity. To have a medal in my house is unbelievable.

"I know I can do better, and we'll see how it goes next year."

The milestone moments keep coming, however, Shnaider is still in the process of accepting she belongs on the world's top tier.

"I feel I'll need more time to settle that idea in my brain -- yes that I'm worth it, that my game is a Top 15 player," Shnaider said.  "This year has been crazy; it's felt very fast with a lot of tournaments. I'll need time to realise this is my place."

Whatever the court or player or setting, Shnaider appears unfazed on the outside, internally it’s a slightly different narrative.

"It's very tough,” she said. “I need to keep working on that for sure.

"There are a lot of mental things to consider in tennis. I'm not going to give up on anything, I'm going to fight until the end, but at the same time, you can go on court thinking 'How am I going to beat her?'

"You need to be able to clear your mind, focus on yourself, because you have so many choices to make.

"I'm working on that, I get very upset with my mistakes, I can be very hard on myself. There's definitely a lot of things like this I can adjust to be better."

For now, Shnaider can continue to dance past opponents, outpunch them in the ring, to bring them into submission with checkmate.

"I feel like to get to the Grand Slams and No.1, my main goal is to find my own game, one that I'm confident in on each surface and enjoy playing," Shnaider said. "I want to keep it consistent throughout the year, and I know it will work if it's consistent."