Carlos Alcaraz was delighted after successfully defending his Indian Wells title since he felt he was in a tight spot after a difficult few months.
The 20-year-old had not won a title since bagging his second grand slam at last year's Wimbledon until he overpowered Daniil Medvedev 7-6(5) 6-1 on Sunday in a rematch of last of the final in 2023.
"It's difficult to put it into words, because I had really difficult months," he told reporters.
"Let's say the last two months it was difficult for me to find myself. I didn't enjoy stepping on the court. I wasn't myself on the court the last two months, three months, so it was difficult for me.
"It means a lot to me, lifting this trophy because I overcome a lot of problems in my head, a lot of problems physically. It was so special for that.
"That's why I'm really, really happy to lift this trophy, because I found myself at this tournament, and I felt really, really good."
Alcaraz was ousted from the Australian Open in the quarter-final at the start of the year before being losing in the last four at Buenos Aires and retiring from his first match in Rio de Janeiro due to an ankle injury.
"I was struggling to enjoy being on the court," he added. "My family, my team, people close to me were telling me that I was not smiling as much as I was doing before."
The world number two also shed light on the important lesson he learned at the Indian Wells.
"It doesn't matter what problems you have. If you believe in yourself, you have a really good team around you, you work hard, everything can turn around," he said.
"I think that's the biggest lesson that I take from this tournament."
Alcaraz will take home the trophy and a cheque for $1.1 million.
