Iga Swiatek revealed she sang a Dua Lipa song to take her mind off a difficult first set in her French Open victory against Zheng Qinwen.
World number one Swiatek extended her astonishing winning run to 32 matches by beating Zheng in the fourth round at Roland Garros, with only Venus Williams (35) and Serena Williams (34) now having enjoyed longer streaks this century – although the Pole remains a long way short of Martina Navratilova's outrageous all-time record of 74.
But Swiatek was made to work for this victory, dropping a set for the first time in more than a month as Zheng took the opener 7-6 (7-5).
Swiatek ultimately considered this a positive, though, responding with her 16th 6-0 set of the year in the second en route to winning 6-7 (5-7) 6-0 6-2.
"For sure, for me, I'm taking a lot of confidence in my comeback in the second set," she said afterwards. "So I think it's important that I had this kind of match, which is kind of like a cold shower.
"It reminded me how to find these solutions after losing a first set. Yeah, I feel when I'm going to take some positives from it. I think it's going to give me a lot before the next matches."
Yet what were Swiatek's solutions?
"It wasn't easy to find solutions and to find other tactics and to do something differently, because I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong," she explained.
"In the first set, I get many technical [things] that I wanted to change, like staying lower in my legs and sometimes not pushing the ball but swinging it like I was doing, like I would do normally.
"She was playing really fast balls, and it wasn't easy to loosen up, because I felt a little bit tense.
"So, in the second set, I just wanted to focus more and not really talk to the box maybe that much.
"And honestly, I speeded up a little bit my forehand. Maybe that was the solution. But I felt like my mind is a little bit more clear.
"I was sometimes just singing songs, and I realised in the first set, when I was really focusing on that technical stuff, it didn't really work, because I got more and more tense when I couldn't do that and couldn't really prepare to the shot the best way.
"I was singing in my mind, basically. That's not the first time. I'm always singing something, but I changed the song. It was Dua Lipa, so kind of a guilty pleasure."
Sinner guides Italy to back-to-back Davis Cup triumphs
Jannik Sinner capped his outstanding year by helping Italy retain the Davis Cup, beating Tallon Griekspoor to ensure Italy downed the Netherlands 2-0 in Sunday's final.
World number one Sinner overcame Griekspoor 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 after Matteo Berrettini had registered a 6-4 6-2 win over Botic van de Zandschulp in the opener.
Sinner saved the only two break points of the first set as Griekspoor put up a fight, but the Italian put on a show in the tie-break to inch ahead.
Griekspoor hit back after giving up an early break in the second set, but Sinner immediately responded with two further breaks, with the Dutchman double-faulting for the first then wildly miscuing with a backhand for the second.
Sinner was untroubled from then on, sealing a triumphant end to a spectacular season.
The Italian has only dropped one set throughout that streak, finishing a year that saw him win the Australian Open, US Open and ATP Finals with a 73-6 singles record.
Data Debrief: Sensational Sinner leads the way
This has been a truly remarkable year for Sinner, who has become the first man in the Open Era to win at least one set in every match throughout a season since Roger Federer in 2005.
His victory ensured Italy became the first team to retain the Davis Cup since the Czech Republic triumphed in 2012 and 2013.
Italy also captured the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this week, and they are just the third nation to claim both trophies in the same season in the last 30 years, after the Czech Republic in 2012 and Russia in 2021.
Jaiswal, Kohli tons put India on the verge of win against Australia
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli bagged magnificent centuries to put India in a commanding position on day three of their first Test match against Australia in Perth.
India declared in a dominant position of 487-6 after Jaiswal (161) built on their 172-0 at stumps on day two and former captain Kohli (100 not out) added quick runs with his first century in 16 months coming up during the final hour.
The tourists then wreaked havoc with the ball in five overs before stumps as captain Jasprit Bumrah dismissed debutant Nathan McSweeney (zero) and Marnus Labuschagne (three) before nightwatchman Cummins (two) fell to Mohammed Siraj with the score at 12, as the hosts trail by 521 runs with seven wickets in hand.
Earlier in the Test, India had scored 150 batting first before bundling out Australia for 104 in the first innings.
Jaiswal resumed his innings at 90 on the third day and brought up his century in the first hour before KL Rahul departed for 77 after an opening-wicket partnership of 201.
The centurion fell as India's third wicket at 313-3 as Australia picked up three wickets in the space of eight runs, but Kohli reached his ton with help from Washington Sundar (29) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (38 not out) as India asserted their dominance.
Sinner and Berrettini send defending champions Italy into Davis Cup final
Jannik Sinner's victory over Alex de Minaur clinched Italy's place in another Davis Cup final, with Matteo Berrettini also victorious as the defending champions beat Australia 2-0.
Italy won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1976 last year, and they will have an opportunity to defend their crown against the Netherlands on Sunday.
Former Wimbledon finalist Berrettini got the ball rolling with an entertaining 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 7-5 victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis, not surrendering a break after losing the opener in a tie-break.
That teed up Sinner to close out Italy's victory, with the world number one overcoming De Minaur 6-3 6-4, the same scoreline he beat the Australian by at the ATP Finals earlier this month.
Speaking after his victory in Malaga, Sinner said: "It means a lot. It was a tough encounter, playing Alex. We know each other quite well now, so I have to be very careful every time.
"It's a very tough challenge for me, so I was looking forward to this one. Obviously, it helped a lot that Matteo won the singles today. He played amazing tennis. It was very high quality.
"Hopefully, this can give us some confidence for [Sunday]. It's going to be a very difficult and tough day for us and also the Netherlands."
Data Debrief: Back-to-back for Italy
Italy's men are looking to follow in the footsteps of their female counterparts, who won the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this week.
They are just the third nation in history to make back-to-back finals at both the Davis Cup and the Federation/Billie Jean King Cup, after the United States (1963-64, 1978-79, 1981-82 and 1990-91) and Australia (1963-64 and 1964-65).
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