Joe Salisbury was left in disbelief after he won his maiden Grand Slam doubles title alongside American partner Rajeev Ram at the Australian Open.
The 27-year-old Briton and Ram eased to a commanding 6-4, 6-2 victory over Max Purcell and Luke Saville at the Rod Laver Arena.
And while Salisbury and Ram were expected to get the better of the Australian wildcards, the victory was nonetheless a moment to savour,
“It is going to take a bit of time to sink in,” Salisbury said. “It feels so surreal and I am so happy.
“We believed deep down we could do it but now it has actually happened it is amazing.”
Purcell and Saville never really got going in front of a partisan home crowd as they failed to earn a single break point during the match.
The slam success sees Salisbury join Jamie Murray as one of only two British men to be crowned doubles champions in Australia in the Open Era.
Salisbury has enjoyed a rapid rise – victory in Australia leaves him fourth in the world rankings – and he can now reflect positively on the hard graft which has taken him to Grand Slam glory.
“It is tough when you are playing the lower-ranked tournaments to get enough points to get your ranking high enough to play in the big tournaments,” he said.
“I had the breakthrough making the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018 and making the main tour, but it is tough making your way up.
“I wasn’t really sure how high [in the rankings] I could get but once I did that at Wimbledon, I realised the level I could play at and that it was possible to win a Grand Slam.”
Sportsbeat 2020