But in another big sporting event over the weekend, this one on the hard courts of Australia, there was a striking example of someone being able to break through that barrier, and enjoying the experience all the more precisely because of how long it took.

When American Madison Keys defeated top-ranked and two-time reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final, she walked off with her first Grand Slam title, completing a journey more than a decade in the making. At 29, Keys became the second-oldest first-time women’s winner of the tournament, finally able to fulfill expectations thrust upon her since she turned pro at 14 and became one of the youngest-ever winners on the WTA Tour.

She reached one Grand Slam final previously, but suffered a 6-3, 6-0 blowout to fellow American Sloane Stephens at the 2017 US Open. As more time passed, Keys, with her powerful groundstrokes and solid serve, wondered if it might ever happen. The more she wanted it, it seemed, the more elusive it remained.

And then, as she detailed in her postmatch comments in Australia, she got to work in therapy. Not just sports psychology, but deeper therapy to really understand herself, how she defined herself, what truly mattered and what made her happy.

As she let go of so many of those outside expectations, as she began to understand what her nerves meant and how they could be used to her advantage on the court, she found a new level of freedom.

“I’ve done a lot of work to no longer need [winning a Grand Slam],” she said after the win. “I really wanted it, but it’s no longer the thing that was going to define me, and kind of letting go of that burden, I finally gave myself the ability to play for it.”

Her admissions spoke to so many potential pitfalls in the life of an athlete, particularly ones who break through at a young age. But they also spoke so much to the capacity of human beings to grow, to evolve, and to get better with age. I found it very inspiring.

“I didn’t always believe that I could get back to this point. But to be able to do it and win, it means the world to me,” she said. “I had to go through some tough things. I think it just kind of forced me to look at myself in the mirror a little bit and try to work on the internal pressure that I was putting on myself.

“I felt like from a pretty young age that if I never won a Grand Slam, then I wouldn’t have lived up to what people thought I should have been. That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around. So I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a Grand Slam. I finally got to the point where I was OK if it didn’t happen. I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career or that I deserved to be talked about as a great tennis player.”

▪ Another lovely Australian Open moment came from eventual men’s runner-up Alexander Zverev, who moved into the final when Novak Djokovic withdrew from the semis with a hamstring injury. Djokovic, 37 and the all-time Grand Slam champ, has had a strained relationship with the Australian crowd since his decision to not get the COVID-19 vaccine. He heard boos upon pulling out, but Zverev was having none of it.

“I want to say, please guys, don’t boo a player when he goes out with injury,” Zverev told the crowd during his on-court interview. “I know that everybody paid for tickets and everybody wants to see hopefully a great five-set match. But you’ve got to understand, Novak Djokovic is somebody that has given this sport, for the past 20 years, absolutely everything of his life. And he has won this tournament with an abdominal tear, won this tournament with a hamstring tear. If he cannot continue a tennis match it really means he cannot continue a tennis match. So please be respectful and show some love to Novak, as well.”

▪ While we still miss the Big Four of Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz appear to be worthy successors. Sinner (23 years old) defeated Zverev for his third career Grand Slam title, one behind the 21-year-old Alcaraz.

▪ Couldn’t help but smile when Tom Brady punctuated one of his best broadcasting jobs yet with his quip about Nick Foles, the former Eagles quarterback who was watching Philadelphia demolish Washington from the stands. Brady took plenty of heat for failing to shake Foles’s hand after the Eagles beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, a game that featured one successful Philly Special and one failed Brady attempt to catch a pass.

When booth partner Kevin Burkhardt needled Brady about it, Brady said, “Nick, I don’t hate you. I am just jealous of you. You caught it, I didn’t.”

▪ The NCAA takes plenty of heat from me, but kudos for adding women’s wrestling as a championship sport at the Division 1, 2, and 3 levels. An Olympic sport since 2004, women’s wrestling becomes the NCAA’s 91st championship sport, with the first tournament set for winter 2026. A total of 93 NCAA schools intend to sponsor the sport in 2024-25, an increase of 41 since 2022-23

▪ The NCAA also righted a longtime inequity wrong by fixing its payouts for women’s basketball revenue during March Madness, matching the performance units formula for every game played — the same practice long afforded men’s programs.

Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.