Elation was always going to be counterbalanced by downright desolation in a Grand Slam final that meant the difference between finally being lauded as a major champion for one contestant and again being regarded as an also-ran.
As Caroline Wozniacki celebrated being the new Australian Open champion, Simona Halep sat, inconsolable, her towel hiding her tears, and sympathy was everywhere in Rod Laver Arena.
Wozniacki, aware that it could so easily have been her suffering the disappointment of a third defeat in a major final, even made a point of apologising twice to Halep during her victory speech. Such was the compassion between the pair.
“I knew, going into the match, that one of us is going to be extremely excited and very happy, and the other one would be very disappointed, very sad,” said Wozniacki, never a contestant to glory in the despondency shown by her victims.
“Obviously I feel very sad for Simona, but at the same time, I’m very happy for myself. I can only imagine how she is feeling. Before the match I didn’t want to think too much about what it would feel like to win because I knew it would hurt even more if I didn’t. It must be hard for her right now.”
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If Halep didn’t deserve to win the Australian Open, she certainly merited an award for gallantry after injuring her ankle in her opening match and repeatedly fighting through the pain in the following rounds. She survived a match lasting three hours 44 minutes against the American Lauren Davis in round three, and an extended battle in the semi-final against Angelique Kerber.
While admitting to being very sad and still coming to terms with the 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-4 defeat, Halep insisted that her resolve to keep going through the tournament had taught her things about herself she didn’t previously know. “I didn’t believe that I could go through all these matches,” she admitted. “Most days my ankle was hurting so bad I couldn’t practise more than 10 or 15 minutes.
“So it looks like I have enough inside power to fight with everything and that’s a good thing. This tournament meant a lot for me.”
Halep was feeling ill and disorientated midway through the second set and required reassurance from the WTA’s healthcare manager, Laura Chimimba. “I was feeling dizzy and had a headache,” she said.
Both players retired to the cool sanctuary of the locker rooms after Halep had squared the match at the conclusion of the second set, the WTA heat rule taking effect with the contestants allowed 10 minutes respite as the on-court temperatures and humidity were still very high.
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“The air conditioning in the locker room was really good,” Halep said. “But now I feel it was a little bit too much and maybe cut my strength a little bit.”
When Halep, 26, lost last year’s French Open final to Jelena Ostapenko, she admitted on court afterwards that perhaps she wasn’t quite ready to win a major title. Her feelings have been different through the past fortnight in Melbourne: “This time the head and the mind was ready but the muscles were tired and the feet were not good enough,” she said.
“But now I’m leaving Australia with many good thoughts and many positive things because of what I’ve achieved in these two weeks. I have done things I have never done in the past. I’m still really sad I couldn’t win it but I was close again to winning a major.
“Caro was better today. She was fresher. She had actually more energy in the end. She deserved to end up the Australian Open champion.”