From the last Australian Open champion to the one who had finally broken the 44-year drought for the locals in our biggest tennis event, five words summed up how everyone who had watched in person at the venue and live on television felt: "Congratulations, I think you're awesome."
The meeting between Chris O'Neil, the 1978 women's singles champion, and Ash Barty came in the corridors of Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, which was buzzing after Barty had won the women's title last Saturday night.
"It was the first time I'd met Ash," O'Neil says. "It was pretty amazing. She was coming back from her press conference and it had been organised for Evonne (Cawley), Rod (Laver), Judy (Dalton) and myself to go down there and talk to her on her way through, which was lovely.
"I told her how I felt about her achievement, just those few words. I would've loved to have had a longer chat to her, but that's not going to happen in those circumstances. She was a very busy woman on the night, with a lot of people to see."
O'Neil thoroughly enjoyed witnessing Barty winning her third major and first on home soil, but the 65-year-old, who was born and bred in Newcastle and now calls Port Macquarie on the Mid-North Coast home, almost didn't make it to the tournament.
"I was actually invited a few weeks out to go to the women's semis and final," she says. "But I'd been a bit COVID-nervous to be honest with you, so I declined. But then we got into the second week of the tournament and I got a call from [Tennis Australia CEO] Craig Tiley.
"I was sort of half expecting a call, because Ash was looking so good and romping through. I thought I just had to take up the offer to go and I'm so glad I did. I really appreciated TA bringing me down for the final and making me a part of it. I had such a wonderful time."
Tennis, the world, and life itself were so different when O'Neil won her Australian Open to what we know now.
The Open was going through a difficult time. The tournament was scheduled closer to Christmas and new year compared with its now later slot, the prizemoney wasn't great, the former venue of Kooyong was tired, and the long trip put some northern hemisphere players off.
It's well documented that the 1978 version of the event wasn't the strongest ever staged, but what should be remembered is that the female winner was world-ranked only 110 before it began and came through unseeded to take the crown. That's quite something under any circumstances.
Chris O'Neil defeated Betsy Nagelsen of the United States in the final, 6-3, 7-6 to win. She joined a very exclusive club: the list of winners of the Australian Open women's singles title includes Billy Jean King, Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Chris Evert-Lloyd, Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport.
O'Neil was still just a 22-year-old who had left home at 17 to go out touring the world on her own.
"Us Aussies would be away for nine months a year," O'Neil says. "We'd leave in January and couldn't afford to come home all the time, so we'd be away until October or November before coming back for the Aussie tournaments. Then we'd turn around and do the same thing the next year.
"There wasn't the support network, the team, that the players can afford to have now. We were just by ourselves. So the camaraderie we had among the players, particularly the Aussies, was really important to us. Leaving home at 17 and travelling the world like I did, you grow up quickly.
"I'm very proud of my achievement in winning the Open. It didn't carry all of the top players, but it was still very competitive and you can only beat the players put in front of you. I had worked really hard in preparation for it. It was an amazing event in my tennis career and my life."
Despite the enormous trappings of money and fame that come with being a highly-ranked tennis player now, Barty - number one in the world - is, like O'Neil, a humble Australian Open champion. It's a big part of the reason O'Neil has huge admiration for her.
"I think she's an incredible athlete, very, very talented, and a really humble individual who is emotionally very generous," O'Neil says. "She talks about her coach and her team, and not just about herself in terms of meriting. There's obviously a lot of trust there.
"I love the fact she has such a diverse game style, because it really dismantles her opponent's game. They find it hard to play against her because they all play similarly to each other while she's a real thinker."
Still in the game
O'Neil has had two hip replacements and one knee replacement in recent years, but while that may have slowed her down it hasn't stopped her. She has worked in hospitality and recently took on a part-time job as an individual support carer.
It's clearly in her nature to help people, and while she obviously can't run around the court like she used to, she still teaches tennis.
"I've just got a couple of kids I teach now," she says. "I've continued with them because I've been teaching them for a few years and I really like them."
Her coaching philosophy revolves around helping to make good people as well as good players.
"It's very hard to make it in tennis, so I've encouraged all of my junior pupils to use the game as a way of learning about themselves, rather than just treat it as winning and losing," she says. "I place very little emphasis on that side of it as opposed to other things, like commitment."
It's very hard to make it in tennis, so I've encouraged all of my junior pupils to use the game as a way of learning about themselves rather than just treat it as winning and losing. I place very little emphasis on that side of it as opposed to other things, like commitment.
Chris O'Neil
O'Neil expects Barty, with her three majors and in particular the Australian Open in her grasp now, to have a Pied Piper effect on kids.
"I think this is going to bring potentially a lot of young female players out of the woodwork," she says. "Ash is such a fantastic role model for tennis, for sport, for Australia and for women, but particularly for young girls who will now probably look at taking up the sport.
"When they see somebody like Ash do it, such a fantastic champion, it can't help but create that desire."
