OSAKA, Japan - Before she even took the court for her first round match at the HP Open on Tuesday, Yaroslava Shvedova already had a lot to celebrate - on Monday she rose from No.36 to No.28 on the WTA Rankings, which may not seem like a milestone number at first, but if you dig a little deeper...

Shvedova set her previous career-high of No.29 during the Wimbledon fortnight in 2010, but she has been through the grinder since then - after some serious injury struggles in 2011 she fell as low as No.259 last October. With some magical results in 2012 though, including the quarterfinals of Roland Garros, she has clawed her way back and is now officially at her best: No.28.

"I'm super happy to get this new high ranking. It means even more this time because I had to work so hard with my team to get back this high. It's incredible that one year ago I was outside the Top 250, and now I'm back in the Top 30.

"And I'm not stopping here."

Another thing the charismatic Kazakh has been working hard at is her passion for photography - since the beginning of the year she has been sharing that passion with wtatennis.com. She calls her photo blog Slava's Shots.

"I've always liked photography," she says. "I found I could see good photos when I looked at things but I didn't have a good camera. In 2009, I decided to buy one so I could take the photos I could see in everyday things around me."

Check out Slava's Shots, Vol. V (and Vol. IV, Vol. III, Vol. II and Vol. I).