When coach Nicole Pratt arrived in the locker room after Daria Gavrilova's prime-time Sunday night unravelling on Rod Laver Arena, she found a 21-year-old acting like a dramatic teenager. Pratt's message was not just about the standards expected, but some perspective on why they had slipped.
"I just said: 'Dasha, listen, I'll tell you now, we're not happy with your behaviour, that's unacceptable'," said Pratt, Tennis Australia's no-nonsense head of women's tennis. "I said: 'We get that you're tired and everything else and everything that comes with where you are right now, but you need to realise that you've done such a great job to get to the point where you've got to, and it's really a lesson in the fact that you've got more to learn'." 
That will come with experience, for it is instructive that, despite all the on-court histrionics after a slashing 6-0 opening disintegrated into a three-set loss to 10th seed Carla Suarez Navarro, the adopted Australian was not fighting her co-coach on this one.
Gavrilova admitted post-match she had acted like "a little child" and was "emotionally fried" after so much tennis, and the fact it was her first appearance in a grand slam fourth round. She was, she said, "terrible", and her team was in no mood to disagree, although Pratt was satisfied the self-awareness and remorse gave Team Dasha somewhere more positive to go from here.
Ahem, Nick Kyrgios, anyone?
"The most important thing when you do slip up, or not manage yourself as well as you probably could have, is admitting that 'Hey,
I need to do a better job there', that's the first step to improving," Pratt said.
"If someone is in denial, says: 'No, I didn't do anything wrong', or 'No, I thought I was fine', well then you can't work with that, so the beauty of Dasha is there's always plenty to work with." Mentally and emotionally, Pratt noted, the Gavrilova tank was empty, and the Russian-born extrovert simply failed to cope with some fine tennis from a quality opponent. On the basis of what Australia has seen, and embraced - from Gavrilova's Hopman Cup introduction to the feisty upsets of seeds Petra Kvitova and Kristina Mladenovic that announced her as the great new hope of the women's side - there was little warning of what was to come. Pratt, though, knew that it might, having engaged sports psychologist Jeff Bond to work with Gavrilova two months ago.
"I was curious as to how she was going to handle everything from the beginning of Hopman Cup,
to tell you the truth - first time playing for Australia, big stage,
and her composure there was fantastic. I don't think [Sunday] night was indicative, especially towards the end, of just how composed
she's been."
Pratt describes as "the nature of the beast" Channel Seven's predictably over-the-top coverage of so-called "Aussie Dasha". A "Countdown to Dasha" clock. Really? Viewers were beaten over the head with an engaging new personality they would happily have warmed to in their own time.
Pratt's concern is more about the social media world in which Gavrilova is so involved. "If she's giving so much, then everyone's gonna take," said the ever-pragmatic Queenslander. "Dasha loves a stage, so the building of a stage for her I don't see that as an issue.
"On a big stage you see all the incredible qualities that she has as a tennis player, as a competitor, as a personality. That's all on show, and she loves it.
"But the social media stuff, that needs balance. She really enjoys it, it's something that she does throughout the day, and the lesson we're trying to teach her is that there's a time and a place for it ... You just concentrate on what you need to concentrate on." Which is being ready to play her best tennis.
Gavrilova's team is a good one, with Pratt overseeing, co-coach Craig Tyzzer on the road this year, and fitness guru Stefano Barsacchi helping her to become one of the game's great movers - and not just in a rankings sense.
Manager Paul Kilderry is already fielding new sponsorship interest but is adamant it must be the right fit for the new pin-up girl of the Australian game.
"Australia's really adopted her amazingly well," Kilderry said. "To be honest, we couldn't have imagined the popularity being this huge and the amount of attention. It's early days, but the excitement and her awareness now in Australia has just risen dramatically. Her tennis is awesome and I think it's been a really successful summer for her."
Fed Cup eligibility remains to be sorted, for she cannot play in Australia's tie in Slovakia next month, due to a new rule requiring players to have been passport-holders for two years.
Otherwise, Pratt would like to see her win her first WTA title, and achieve the grand slam seeding that comes with life in the top 32 she is now among, while continuing to develop her game.
"It's a great springboard because grand slams were her focus this year. She didn't compete well in grand slams, so there was a lot of discussion about how we as a team were going to manage her," says Pratt. "The big part of it is the emotional management of Dasha. That's why everyone loves her, but if she's giving so much emotion it's just tough to continue to do that throughout a tournament."