Eva Lys declared her Australian Open fairytale as "the nicest week" of her life but also shared that not long ago she was having tearful nights and wondering if her moment would ever come.
On Monday, the lucky loser's impressive campaign at Melbourne Park finished with a 6-0 6-1 defeat to Iga Swiatek.
As you probably know very well by now, the world No. 128 lost in the qualifying final round but then made the main draw at the last moment after Anna Kalinskaya pulled out just 10 minutes before the start of her first-round match.
After making the main draw, Lys won three matches - reached her first Grand Slam round-of-16 - secured breaking into the top-100 for the first time in her career - and also bagged $420k in tournament prize money.
"It's definitely I think the nicest week I've had in my life just because it wasn't really only about the result, but also about the whole story," the 23-year-old said.
Lys: There were a lot of nights, often with tears...
Before drawing attention to herself in Melbourne, she only had three ITF titles to her name and was mostly bouncing between playing WTA 125 tournaments or trying to sneak into the main-level tournaments through qualifying.
"I've had a lot of nights where I was actually talking to my parents, often with tears, asking, 'When will the time come?'" the Australian Open sensation recounted.
"Because I know I have the potential, but sometimes I was the only person that's really standing in my own way.
"Everything just came down to this week where on one side it's definitely the tennis I played, but also it was the luck in the beginning.
"It was just the momentum that made it so special. So I'm definitely enjoying every second I had here."
Now, Lys will certainly be hoping to continue with her rise and make more noise in the rest of 2025.
