The first day of main-draw play at a Grand Slam is just like the first day of school. Players have arrived, with their bags packed, pencils sharpened, and “I love you” notes from their moms tucked away in their lunches. Feelings of excitement and hope permeate the early stages of a major, and every player gets the opportunity to start back at square one.

Two players looking to start back at square one are Jarmila Gajdosova and Vera Zvonareva, as 2013 was a lost season for both. It's really been more of a lost two years for Gajdosova, who reached a career-high ranking of No. 25 in May 2011. Since then, she got divorced from fellow Australian Samuel Groth, won just one match at slams in 2012, and was diagnosed with mononucleosis that effectively ended her 2013. For Zvonareva, who made two major finals at the height of her powers, it was her body that betrayed her. After competing at the London Olympics, four years removed from a bronze medal in Beijing, the Russian underwent shoulder surgery and was on the shelf for more than a year.

Both players returned to the WTA Tour for the 2014 season. Having missed the last three and five major tournaments respectively, no two players in the women's draw would've been looking more forward to their fresh start.

Zvonareva, who currently has no WTA ranking, has to start all over. After being dealt the toughest possible “welcome back!” draw against Li Na in Shenzhen, she might have liked her chances against Australian wildcard Casey Dellacqua. Not to discredit Dellacqua, but Zvonareva made her living easily defeating players ranked where the Australian is to rise up into the higher echelons of the top 10. Nonetheless, her pedigree couldn't hide that it was still just her second match in 18 months, and it was Dellacqua who took full advantage. The rust was visible on Zvonareva in more ways than one, and the Australian came through with a straight-forward 6-2, 6-2 victory.

\While one chapter closed, however, another one opened. Dellacqua, who's never been able to capture the form that catapulted her on a magical run to the fourth round at Melbourne Park in 2008, advances to the second round. The Sydney resident is in with a chance, for she will play No. 18 seed Kirsten Flipkens.

Dellacqua has proven herself a darling Down Under, but for Gajdosova, things are different. The woman born in Slovakia has often been treated like an outsider in her adopted homeland. Rarely able to bring her best at the place she calls home, she was reduced to tears after being double-bageled by Marion Bartoli at the Hopman Cup in 2012. She's never won a match at the Australian Open either, but that's not entirely her fault. The draw gods have not exactly been kind over the years, since she's drawn seeded players like Serena Williams, Yanina Wickmayer and Maria Kirilenko in her Australian Open campaigns. This year proved no different, as her name was pulled next to No. 9 Angelique Kerber.

It all was going according to plan for the German in the first-round encounter, as she easily captured the opening set 6-3 behind one break of serve. On the second point of the second set, however, things became anything but routine. Stretched wide to her backhand side, Gajdosova rolled over on her ankle and needed to be helped to her chair. When it seemed like she would retire, she soldiered on and showed a gritty toughness in front of the fans whose approval she has been so desperate to gain. She bageled Kerber in the second set, bad ankle and all, and appeared to have the match well within her grasp.

As has been the story for Gajdosova in her Australian Open career, she came up short when it mattered most. Kerber advanced by a 6-3, 0-6, 6-2 score, and Gajdosova fell to 0-9 in singles at her home slam.

A day that started so full of promise soon turned to anything but for the Russian and the Aussie. For Zvonareva and Gajdosova, their first day of school wasn't something to celebrate. The pair has had to learn about tennis adversity the hard way over the course of their careers, and with a pair of first-round losses, they continued their education on the first day of the Australian Open at the school of hard knocks.