The 34-year-old gave AO officials a lashing after missing a spot in her home grand slam despite being, at the time, Australia’s highest-ranked female player.

After losing in the opening round of qualifying at Melbourne Park, Rodionova declared she was “not liked” with wildcards given to others including her teammate at this week’s Billie Jean King clash with Mexico, Storm Hunter.

Rodionova used the snub as motivation to become the oldest player ever to enter the WTA top-1oo for the first time and was subsequently recalled by new Australian team captain Sam Stosur who she said was “always in my corner”.

Rodionova is now ranked 103. with Daria Saville, another teammate in Brisbane, leaping over her to 94 to take the mantle as the highest ranked player in the tie ,

She said there were no lingering tensions and he attack after missing an Australian Open wildcard was “different” to accepting TA’s offer to play for Australia.

“It’s two very different things,” Rodionova said on Tuesday.

“In the Australian Open, I’m playing for myself. Here I’m representing the country, so I don’t see any correlation between those two events.

“Whatever happened in January happened in January … it’s not like I’m here being like ‘What happened in January, it was pretty bad’.

“I’m just happy to be here and really happy to be part of the team again after a few years.”

Rodionova, who notched a big win at Pat Rafter Arena during last January’s Brisbane Invitational taking down former grand slam champion Sofia Kenin, but still missed an Australian Open spot, said she only had herself to blame for not qualifying.

“I didn’t qualify (for the Australian Open) like I probably should have and I didn’t. So that’s on me,” she said.

“If I want to give myself the opportunity to play on big courts, then I should win more often. So I’ll try to do that.”

But she knows she has the full support of Stosur, who is in charge of her first time this week, and her teammates this week and is primed to fly the flag as one of three singles options along with Saville and Hunter, who was also the world No.1 doubles player last year.

“Sam was always in my corner,” Rodionova she said having feared, after a run of injuries, he time at the top was done.

“I think I was just excited to be playing tennis again. It’s something you can never take for granted – one day in 2022, four days before Wimbledon, I broke my wrist and didn’t know if I would ever play tennis again.

“Once I started it was pretty special to be on the court every time. I kept having fun, kept fighting.

“It’s really tough every time you have a big injury … of course you’re going to have doubts, even when you start again it takes time to trust your body again.

“I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get back to the level I was, and I’m really happy that I proved to myself that I did, and I belonged here.”

The Australians are ranked No.2 in the competition, aiming to reach the finals for a fourth successive year and start as hot-favourites against 19th ranked Mexico.

The two nations have not clashed since 1983, when the competition was called the Federation Cup.

Stosur will reveal her singles selections on Wednesday with doubles ace Ellen Perez and teenage talent Taylah Preston also in the squad.