The Gerroa glamour girl (pictured) is instead focusing on starting the tour in style at the Roxy Pro at Snapper Rocks later this month, the first step towards claiming the crown which she narrowly missed out on in 2011.

A new event on the surfing calendar, the women's heats of the Australian Open start at Manly on Monday.

The 21-year-old has been forced to use a modified training program for the past two months after fracturing her wrist while surfing at Cloudbreak in Fiji in December. Fitzgibbons said the Australian Open will provide her with valuable competition surfing in the build-up to the world tour.

"You always want to get the result, but I'll be using it more as a sort of training run," she said.

"I'll still be training hard as well through this even and working towards the Roxy Pro."

The world No 2 said Manly's beach break and the four-person heat format would make the Australian Open competition unpredictable.

"You never really know until on the day what you're going to get," she said.

"You just have to try and be alert all the time to pick the right wave and the right moments. There will obviously be fewer opportunities with four girls all surfing in the same heat, so anything could happen, really."

The nine-day Australian Open surfing, skating, music and arts festival is expected to attract a total crowd of about 125,000.

Fitzgibbons is refusing to use her fractured wrist and recent leg injury as excuses, claiming she will be ready to score all-important early wins on the world tour.

After finishing second again last year, Fitzgibbons is confident and relaxed about her prospects of snatching the world title from Hawaiian Carissa Moore this year.

But she will also have competition from four-time champion Stephanie Gilmore and a band of talented rookies, including fellow South Coast product Tyler Wright.

"I guess after coming so close last year, you push yourself a bit harder to take the top spot," she said.