When new Australian Open champion Madison Keys began her speech by saying, "Bear with me, I'm absolutely going to cry. There's no way I get through this without tears," it was the perfect synopsis of the emotional upheaval she has endured throughout her career.
The American defied all odds on Saturday night, completing one of the best runs to a Grand Slam title you are ever likely to witness, defeating Danielle Collins, Elena Rybakina, Elina Svitolina, Iga Świątek and Aryna Sabalenka.
During her victory speech, the tears were impossible to hide, not only for Keys but her entire team, including coach and husband Bjorn Fratangelo.
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This time 12 months ago, the 29-year-old withdrew from Melbourne Park due to a shoulder injury, casting serious doubt on whether she would ever equal or eclipse her US Open final appearance in 2017.
Last year's Wimbledon was another heartbreaker, forced to retire from her fourth-round match against eventual finalist Jasmine Paolini at 5-5 in the third set after suffering from a hamstring injury.
Multiple injuries and surgeries have halted Keys from achieving her maximum potential. So, now that she has climbed the top of the mountain, given the injuries and surgeries in years past, it's no wonder current players are ecstatic for one of the nicest souls in the locker room.
As for every major achievement whether it be sport of life in general, the challenges and tribulations are usually hidden behind the scenes.
For Keys, she suffered mental demons throughout parts of her career up until this point.
After her upset win over Świątek in the semi-finals on Thursday, the No.19 seed revealed that during her first major final eight years ago, she was "consumed with being nervous" given the enormity of the occasion.
Since her early teenage years, Keys has been touted as a future Grand Slam champion, yet that wasn't always a comfortable position for her to be in.
Keys credited her success to therapy; the number one secret which she shared to the media in a raw and honest post-final press conference.
"Lots of therapy," smiled Keys. "I really kind of bought into it. I think in the past I had always tried to go the sports therapy route where it was more about routine and controlling things you can control and all of that.
"I felt like I was always good enough at that, but to really start kind of digging in on how I felt about myself and really being honest with myself about it, it was really hard because I didn't really want to be the person that felt like I was really struggling, but I was starting to really struggle with it.
"So just being really honest and actually getting help and actually talking to someone, and not just about tennis but about how I felt about myself. Again, very uncomfortable. I never really like to be uncomfortable.
"I honestly think that had I not done that, then I wouldn't be sitting here."
A stigma has always been attached to mental health. The sad reality is that, although awareness has grown leaps and bounds, that stigma hasn't vanished.
But to Keys' credit, she is playing her part in transforming that stigma into normality.
"I think the more that we talk about actually using it as a tool, I think people will feel more comfortable with it," she said.
"I do think that the WTA does a great job at having someone at tournaments now that you can go and you can talk to. It's not only helpful for myself, but I think it's helpful for a lot of us.
"The stigma around therapy in general, not just in sports, I think is slowly starting to go away. I think that everyone should be in therapy, no matter what. I think it helps. No matter what, no matter what's going on in your life, you're going to have moments where things are tough and you need someone to talk to. I think it's very important.
"It's something I will continue to do for the rest of my life. I think if more people do it and more people talk about it, then it just kind of becomes the norm. It's almost as if you're going to the doctor. No one bats an eye at that."
"I think in the past I had done [therapy] before, but it had always been I think too sports-specific. I kind of always went in with the thought of, 'Will this help me perform better?' I finally got to the point where I was personally low enough that I was like, I don't really care if this helps me perform, I just want to feel better.
"I think doing that, it was just kind of that moment where it was like, I don't really care what I have to do, I just want to feel better. So I think it was kind of the thing that it pushes you to say, 'Okay, well, obviously whatever I'm doing, is not working'.
"I think for a long time in my head I had this idea that people were able to kind of just ignore their nerves or doubts or anything like that and just kind of tunnel vision play tennis."
Walking around with the trophy in hand holding a glass of champagne as she walked around the media centre at Melbourne Park, all of those therapy sessions were well worth it.
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