The advancing years betray a fuller figure, the trademark ponytail of her teens shorn in favour of a fashionable bob, but it is easy to discern arguably the most celebrated child prodigy in tennis, as she offers an occasional reminder of the booming groundstrokes of yesteryear.
To find Jennifer Capriati one must journey to a quieter corner of the All England Club, to court 18 where the 1992 Olympic champion commands a larger audience than is normal on one of the outside courts: every seat is taken, initially.
The curiosity is tangible; an unspoken desire to gauge the decline first hand.
A world ranking of 151 would not ordinarily have sufficed to earn her a place at Wimbledon but a wild-card invitation was a formality once she declared an interest in taking part for the first time in five years.
Capriati's curriculum vitae represents astonishing underage achievement: the youngest player to be ranked in the world's top 10, aged 14 years 235 days in 1990; in the same year she reached the final in her first professional tournament, Boca Raton; and also aged 14 became the youngest grand slam semi-finalist at the French Open (1990).
She created further history when in 1990 she was both the youngest seed (12) and the youngest player to win a match at Wimbledon. She reached the semi-finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open the following year, and 12 months later defeated Steffi Graf 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the Olympic final. Six tournament victories, with $1 million in career earnings by Wimbledon of 1992 further illustrated her prowess.
In 1993, the private anxieties of a girl who tired of the expectation from both family and outside agencies, resulted in her abandoning the tour.
Whispers of drugs (recreational) and dubious friendships dogged her initially. Despite briefly returning to the tour in November 1994, there was another period of exile stretching to February 1996. The following year saw a temporary renaissance when she reached the final in Sydney but injuries and a lack of commitment was to scupper further recovery.
Her patchy form, winning just six matches this season, suggested that her return to Wimbledon might be a short-lived affair. To her credit she showed an obdurate streak in coming from a break down in the final set to oust Australian Nicole Pratt 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
Capriati still possesses a formidable array of shots but it is her mobility and mental fortitude that will be decisive. "I suppose that's (desire) everything with me. How bad I want it depends on how well I move and you know movement is a big part of my game. If I am there in position, I can hit it.
"I guess you never lose the touch, really, I don't think it ever goes away. It's just everything else that goes around it and with me it's definitely desire and fitness." And how badly does she want to muscle her way back in among the elite? "Right now I want it pretty bad. I am really focused and determined to play well."
Her new-found sense of purpose extends to finding a coach in the near future.
"I believe that I can go all the way, if I didn't I see no point in me being here.
"It's about being at the top of what I can do. Maybe that's not number one, maybe that's just number five but that's fine. You know that's whatever my best is."
Strong words and then she shuffles off to practise, aware that she must first earn her way in from the periphery of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Steffi Graf enjoyed minimal discomfort, at least in the opening set against Slovakian Henrietta Nagyova, rattling off six games without reply. The second set was not as easy, but the German ran out an easy 6-0, 6-4 winner. The same cannot be said for Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario who dropped the first set 7-5, before crushing Catalina Cristea of Romania 6-2, 6-0.
