Mirra Andreeva used her Roland Garros trophy ceremony to explain the words written on her jacket after capturing her first Grand Slam title.
The 19-year-old defeated Maja Chwalińska 6-3, 6-2 in the final to complete a breakthrough fortnight in Paris.
Andreeva’s jacket carried the message “I want to thank myself”, a line she echoed during her on-court speech.
Mirra Andreeva explains Roland Garros jacket message
Andreeva wore a jacket with the words “I want to thank myself” during the trophy presentation.
The phrase matched the closing part of her speech, where she thanked herself for the work and belief that helped her lift the title.
“Last but not least I also wanna thank myself for believing in myself,” she said.
Andreeva also mentioned “always giving my 100% even when it’s tough”, trying every day to improve “as a person and as a player”, and believing she could win.
She added that she had been “fighting so many demons inside of me” and said only she knew how difficult the previous weeks had been.
Andreeva completes first Grand Slam title run in Paris
The speech followed the biggest title of Andreeva’s career so far.
Before beating Chwalińska in the final, Andreeva beat Marta Kostyuk 6-1, 6-3 in the semi-final.
That result ended Kostyuk’s 17-match winning run and sent Andreeva into her first major final.
Andreeva’s jacket was one of the most visible details of the trophy ceremony. Her speech then explained the personal meaning behind it.
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