Though there were no diamonds for Laura Robson on Saturday, as she and Andy Murray lost the final of the Hopman Cup in Perth, and the Spanish received the champions' jewel-encrusted tennis balls, the teenager was awarded a wild card for this week's qualifying competition for the Australian Open.
Should the 15 year-old come through three qualifying matches at Melbourne Park, and maybe even win a round in the main draw, she would have more than enough money to buy herself something sparkly.
If the former junior Wimbledon champion had been open about her ambition to win "those diamonds" at the mixed team exhibition tournament, she had also made it perfectly clear that she wanted the opportunity to attempt to qualify for the opening grand slam of the year, so one out of two was not bad.
Since Robson is ranked outside the top 400, she was too low in the standings to have received direct acceptance into qualifying, yet the standard of her performances in Perth, including Saturday's fabulous straight-sets singles victory against the world No 26, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, convinced Tennis Australia that they should give her a golden ticket, a wild card.
On Friday, Robson had played a strong first set during her defeat to Russia's Elena Dementieva, the Olympic champion and world No 5. "It's been a good experience for me," she said, and the Australian officials have liked what they have seen of Robson.
It was last summer, at Wimbledon, that Robson made her first appearance at the grand slams. With her wild-card entry, she was the youngest to appear in the main draw on the grass since Martina Hingis in 1995, and took Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, a former world No 5, to three sets in the first round.
At last season's US Open, Robson was given a wild card into qualifying and reached the final round. As Robson's birthday is on Jan 21, and the opening grand slam of the season starts on Jan 18, she could feature in the main draw of another slam before she is 16.
"Laura has had a quick rise on the international scene," said Craig Tiley, the tournament director of the Australian Open, "and she deserves this opportunity."
In the coming days, when some of the locals gripe and grumble that the Melbourne-born Robson ought to be playing under an Australian flag, she should take it as a compliment that they want to claim her as an Aussie.
When she reached the final of the juniors last season, there was much excitement after Robson's answer to the 'Vegemite or Marmite?' test, when she said she used the Australian brand to describe what she spread on her toast. But, even if she is a Vegemite girl, that does not change the fact that Robson, who lives a few minutes' from the All England Club, has always regarded herself as a 'Pom'.
As for Murray, if he goes on to win the Australian Open, he will not just be the first British man to win a grand slam singles title for 74 years; he would also be the first male of any nationality to have prepared for his first slam trophy by playing mixed doubles with a 15 year-old girl.
Murray's decision to prepare for the Open in Perth, rather than return to Doha to attempt to defend the singles title he won last season, means that those ranking points from the desert will come off the computer, and Monday's list is expected to have the Scot outside the top four for the first time in more than a year.
Murray will exchange places with Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro, the world No 5 and last season's US Open champion. If Murray gets a nasty draw, he might have to play three of the top four to win the title – one in the quarter-final, one in the semi-final and one in the final.
When Robson defeated Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 7-6, for what was her first singles victory of the week and the first time she had beaten anyone in the top 30, most in the indoor arena in Perth would have imagined that Britain would go on to win those diamond tennis balls for the first time.
A British victory looked even more likely when Murray ripped through the opening set against Tommy Robredo, taking it 6-1. Yet Murray, who had won all his singles rubbers in the group stages, could not keep that going against the world No 16, and Robredo took the match 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. Murray and Robson then experienced their only mixed doubles defeat of the week, with Spain saving three set points in the opening set of a 7-6, 7-5 victory.
Until Saturday, the only criticism you could have made of Murray was that he had practised topless during a day off, and ended up with a sunburnt back. But he blamed himself for Britain's defeat. "I kind of let Laura down a bit," Murray said. "So I feel bad about that."
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