It’s fair to say Alfie Hewett’s journey to his first Australian Open singles title hasn’t been an easy one, in fact he himself would describe it as a “rollercoaster.”

“And my biggest fear going into today was if I lose this final it’s another year where I’ve got to sit and think about getting an opportunity to play here again so I just wanted to make this one count,” Hewett said.

And make it count he did. Scheduled third on Margaret Court he knew it was potentially going to be a long day.

So even before the first point of the match had even been played it was important for Hewett to make sure he was focusing on being in the right headspace off court as well as on it.

“I had to think about everything differently today, even pre-match stuff. Usually you know I have my headphones on, listen to my music, keep to myself but that wasn’t helping. I wasn’t thinking about the process like I usually do. All I could think about was the outcomes and, because of the history here, none of those were positive.

“So I must of watched about three or four hours of TikTok instead. It sounds mad right but it was helping me to switch off, so maybe I should thank that for the win too.”

And changing up his pre-match routine must have worked because, after just over an hour on court, he had the trophy he’d been working so hard for in his hand - claiming a 6-3 6-1 victory over Tokito Oda.

“It sounds stupid saying it but it’s a huge relief to win it," he said. "I always set my expectations pretty high coming into this event, wanting to win, and then anything below that is a failure for me.

“To come here this year for the seventh time and not have my name on that trophy yet is mentally very difficult - being number one seed here there’s a lot of expectation on me and of course the history gets dragged out with losing the last couple of finals.

“And as much as you try to put it to one side there’s no denying that it’s there in the forefront of my mind every morning that I’ve woken up this week.

“Just to overcome that, believe in myself that I can win and actually walk away with the title this year is probably one of my greatest successes.”

Despite Hewett now being a regular fixture in finals at the majors, as the match got underway it was Oda, playing in his first Grand Slam final, whose nerves seemed to settle first

With nothing to lose the 16-year-old was swinging freely and unleashing an onslaught of power Hewett’s way, and at 3-1 down in the first set the World No. 1 was feeling confident with his gameplay but knew he had to change something up with where he was mentally in the game.

“I had a lot of tension at the beginning of the match and he came out firing which I fully anticipated," Hewett said.

“So it was just taking it point by point because the only battle I had out there was with myself and just trying to get rid of this tension that was there. And then once settled into the match, especially that second set there was some really good stuff happening.”

And that good stuff included angled shots to envy and beautifully placed winners straight down the line which saw the Brit remain in charge for the remainder of the match.

He sealed his first Australian Open singles title with an ace on his first championship point. And on a court which Hewett seems to achieve many firsts on.

“Margaret Court was where I got my first ever singles win here and the second time I’ve played on the same court it’s brought me a trophy so I obviously have a great relationship with the court because there’s many firsts happened there,” Hewett said.