By David Polkinghorne
Brazilian tennis player Gabriela Ce says her country of birth spent "too much money" on this year's Olympic Games, but at least it has "something beautiful to show" for it.
Ce was far from Rio de Janeiro's famous beaches on Tuesday, slogging it out in the Canberra International to win her way through to the main field of the women's draw at the Canberra Tennis Centre.
Brazil tennis player Gabriella Ce forced her way through qualifying to make the main draw at the Canberra International.Credit: Ben Southall
She was far too good for Shelby Talbot from the US, beating her 6-0, 6-1 and she'll meet Australian Olivia Tjandramulia in the first round on Wednesday.
Ce didn't go to the Rio Olympics, but was watching it from her home in Sao Paulo.
The 23-year-old felt there were positives and negatives to come from Brazil hosting the event.
She echoed the feeling many Brazilians shared that it was a lot of money to spend when the country has so many social and economic problems.
But she also felt it gave the world a glimpse of what her nation has to offer.
"Now that everything went so well and it was very successful, I would say it was very nice to have it, but it was also, of course, very expensive to afford because it's not like Brazil is a first-world country," Ce said.
"I think it's just too much money to spend when the country has its own issues. But at least it was something beautiful to show to the rest of the world our own country. I think it was beautiful."
Tennis is not a big sport in Brazil and Ce felt that was due to its expensive nature, which made it unaffordable for many Brazilians.
She was inspired to take up the racquet when she was four on the back of Gustavo Kuerten's victory in the French Open in 1997.
It was the first of the Brazilian's three triumphs at Roland Garros and began his climb to world No.1.
"It's getting more popular these days because we had our biggest idol Gustavo Kuerten. He has such a huge charisma so people are getting to know tennis a little bit more these days," Ce said.
"But it's not that big because it's an expensive sport and there are people are struggling to have food [and] very basic things."
Ce's main reason for coming down under was to play tennis, but she also had an ulterior motive.
She has two cousins in Australia and has already visited one in Perth and will catch up with the other in Sydney after she's finished at the Canberra International.
She won't hang around for the Australian Open because her world ranking has slipped to 534 this year.
Instead she'll return to South America for a couple of tournaments in Chile at the end of this month to end her year.
Sara Tomic – the sister of the controversial Bernard Tomic – was knocked out in the first round by Zuzana Zlochova 6-3, 6-4.