Australian Open junior boys' champion Luke Saville blamed "raw emotion" Saturday after he swore in his acceptance speech on center court.
The 17-year-old Australian beat Canada's Filip Peliwo 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena to go one better than last year, when he was defeated in the final by Czech Jiri Vesely.
After being presented with the trophy by Australian great Ken Rosewall, the top seed told spectators that winning the final felt a "sh*tload" better than losing.
Saville, who hails from Cobdogla, a country town of just 232 people in South Australia, admitted later that he probably should have chosen his words more carefully.
"I'll probably regret saying that word, but you know, it was just the heat of the moment. It was just raw emotion out there. I said what I thought," he said, adding that it could have been worse. "Lucky it wasn't the other word."
Saville, the world's top-ranked junior, cruised to the final with the loss of just one set, but he was pushed hard by the unseeded Canadian before eventually winning in exactly two hours.
Earlier, left-handed American Taylor Townsend was the surprise winner of the girls' title after beating fourth-seeded Russian Yulia Putintseva in three sets.
The 14th-seeded Townsend cruised through the first set but had to fight off a comeback from the Russian before winning 6-1 3-6 6-3. Townsend, 15, secured the win despite making 44 unforced errors, balanced by her 36 winners.
