"Australia is part of my heart" says Simona Halep after Melbourne triumph

In her 40th tour final, the 30-year-old Halep bagged her 23rd career title and afterwards and after the match, she paid tribute to many people.

One of those people was her former coach Darren Cahill with whom Halep parted ways last season. The tennis coach was in the stands watching his new protege Amanda Anisimova lift her first title in a while and stayed on to watch Halep. After the match Halep mentioned him in her speech:

“Australia is part of my heart, many times I've said that. I saw Darren up on the screen. I'd like to thank him for coming to watch me. He's not my coach anymore but he's like my family, so it's always a pleasure to come here and I feel like I'm part of Australia."

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She then thanked her team:

“It’s always a pleasure to have another speech on this beautiful court… To my team, of course, thank you very much for being next to me. It's not easy to work with me, I know that. Let's keep winning because I like this feeling."

She then paid tributo the fans thankin them for coming out and showing support:

"I know we have tough times (during the Covid pandemic) but we feel safe here and it's great to be more relaxed and to have these conditions to play before the Australian Open.”