Iga Swiatek thanked her team for maintaining their belief in her after she won her first Wimbledon title in emphatic fashion.
Swiatek beat Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-0 in just 57 minutes in Saturday's final, becoming the second player in the Open Era to win a women's singles grand slam showpiece without dropping a game, after Steffi Graf at Roland-Garros in 1988.
The 24-year-old has now won six grand slam titles, with at least one on all three surfaces (four at Roland-Garros, one at the US Open).
Swiatek is the fifth-youngest player to win women’s singles grand slam titles on all three surfaces in the Open Era, and the youngest since Serena Williams in 2002.
Swiatek only dropped 35 games throughout her Wimbledon campaign, the fewest games dropped to secure the women’s singles title at the All England Club in the 2000s, but she did not expect victory at SW19 to come so soon.
The Pole has previously expressed pessimism about playing on grass courts, but she praised her new coach Wim Fissette for helping her achieve a dream title.
"This feels surreal," Swiatek said after her victory on Centre Court. "I want to congratulate Amanda for an amazing two weeks, no matter what happened today.
"I hope we are going to play many tournaments together and congrats to your team as well.
"I didn't even dream about this because it felt too far away. I feel like I am an experienced player, but I never expected this win.
"My team believed in me more than I did and I want to thank my coach who joined me this year. We have showed everyone that this is working. This is the best thing that a player can have.
"I want to thank everybody who makes this tournament so unique. There is no tournament like this. Centre Court felt like a lot of pressure, but this year I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed my game here.
"And thank you, you guys [the crowd] for being part of this. I will always remember the opening of champagne bottles in-between serves!"
