All sweaty night on Rod Laver Arena, two women ran. Ran for their lives, for pride, a trophy and just a ball. Knees were taped mid-match, blood pressure checked, cramp ignored, painkillers eaten and still they ran. Twelve-shot rallies were followed by 23-shot rallies and they wiped their faces, inhaled optimism and somehow stood back from the abyss of total exhaustion. Then they ran some more.
First Grand Slam titles shouldn't just be won, they must be earned like this. Simona Halep played stirring tennis, but Caroline Wozniacki simply played sterner tennis. She won their 2hr 49min Australian Open final 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-4 and if this was a race we might say she won a marathon at the tape. "I think being new Grand Slam champion and world No. 1 sounds pretty good," she said with a grin that never left her all night.
After they'd fought each other, themselves, the heat, their fears, when one was crying in relief and the other shattered, Wozniacki had won 110 points and Halep 108. Indeed when one was tired, they simply found solace by looking over the net.
Said Wozniacki: "Every time I was like, 'Oh, I can't do this any more, I'm exhausted', and we were playing all these crazy long rallies, I was thinking, 'Okay, I'm looking over there, she looks a little tired, she must be feeling the exact same way or maybe more tired than me'."
Her voice shook with emotion later and her hands held the trophy like it was a child. She hugged it, waved it and when she got to an interview studio later she kept a hand on it - as if to touch the Daphne Akhurst trophy was proof that this was all real. That in her 43rd Grand Slam, after two failed finals, injuries, falling to No. 74 in 2016, after all the questions and criticisms, here it was, finally, the prize.
One meaning of epic is a heroic poem and this was an ode to sport, women athletes, nerve and shoe manufacturers. Great soles were evidently at work here. It was a worthy match firstly because of Wozniacki, who is now a great because when it mattered she was great.
Great enough to meet the moment. Greater by a shot here and a stride there than Halep. In the third set, the Dane led 3-1 and then abruptly found herself at 3-4 and it's enough to bring back old memories and lose heart. But she won the next three games in a row and left her rival with a towel over her dejected head. In sport only one dream comes true at a time.
And yet no sporting epic is built by one person and Halep is a unique competitor. She walked into the press conference later, politely said "hello" and insisted, "I can still smile. It's fine. I cried, but now I'm smiling. I'm really sad I couldn't win it. I was close again, but the gas was over in the end." To see her play was exhilarating, to hear her honesty was inspiring.
She entered the final having played 92 minutes more than Wozniacki on an injured ankle and it told, for her head ached, dizziness visited, her feet hurt but this was only explanation not excuse. "She was better," Halep said of Wozniacki, "she was fresher."
On the court they chanted See-Mo-na, but if the Romanians in the stands were louder, the Dane on the court was initially sharper. She muttered, "come on" after the first point, broke Halep in the second game, played sublime backhands down the line and like an aggressive boxer threw harder punches.
Halep broke back to 4-5, but Wozniacki, in control, took the first-set tie-breaker 7-2, and then the momentum shifted strangely. The worse Halep looked, incredibly the harder she hit. The Dane backed off a little in the second set, the Romanian waded in. If one hit a sideline, the other hit a baseline. There was no winner to be picked here, just tennis to be marvelled at.
The trophy stood courtside all night like a tease and a taunt. They could see it but had to win it, which meant their hands had to work and heads had to think while their lungs were complaining. Predictably nothing came easy. Halep served for the second set at 5-3 and only after three break points were saved, two set points wasted and one last 13-shot rally, she held.
If Hitchcock has an heir maybe he wrote the script of this match. Twists followed turns. Wozniacki broke to 2-0 in the third, had chances to make it 3-0, was broken to 2-1, broke back to 3-1 and then the mayhem of the third set began.
Halep might cry again, will find inspiration from her own courage and dream of Paris. Wozniacki, as she threatened, will simple cuddle Daphne and go to sleep. History once made cannot be easily let go.
