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The aftermath of winning a Wimbledon title often leaves the champions dazed and incredulous. That reaction was magnified at this year's Junior Championships, with the unexpected and unseeded finalists finding themselves competing for the prestigious titles in front of thousands of fans on celebrated Court One.

Wimbledon Boys Singles Champion Samir Banerjee
© Jon Super/AELTC

Samir Banerjee's 7-5, 6-3 win over fellow 17-year-old American Victor Lilov capped a week the New Jersey resident did not anticipate. Although he made the doubles final at the ITF Junior Circuit J1 warmup event in Roehampton, Banerjee won only one match in singles and was unsure how his game would translate to the more manicured courts of the All England Lawn Tennis Club.

That question was answered in his first match, when he defeated No. 12 seed Maks Kasnikowski of Poland 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. After two days of rain forced the boys to play their third round and quarterfinal matches the same day, Banerjee really hit his stride, beating No. 5 seed Pedro Boscardin Dias of Brazil, who had beaten him at Roehampton, then taking out Mili Poljicak of Croatia, both in less than an hour.

"Everything I hit, I'm accelerating fully and I'm really ripping the ball," said Banerjee, who, in his first ITF Junior Circuit Grade A quarterfinal against Poljicak, hit 16 winners and made just six unforced errors. "It was just one of those days. You have those days when nothing is going in and today was one of those days where everything seemed to be working."