‘I just had the most amazing time in New York,’ Emma Raducanu opens up about her rise as a rookie

‘I just had the most amazing time in New York,’ Emma Raducanu opens up about her rise as a rookie

Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu has been the biggest story in women’s tennis this season. The 18-year old Brit started the year outside the top 300 and has broken into the top 20 at the end.

Emma made headlines at Wimbledon when she reached the fourth round as a wildcard. It was also her grand slam debut and she was also the last British singles player left in the tournament. In a recent interview with Skysports, she spoke about her rise.

“Wimbledon was the first moment I was being competitive on a global scale. Obviously there was so much excitement going on and adrenaline I’d never felt before, because it was the first time,” she said.

“I was so proud and happy being at home playing in front of home crowd, it was such a special feeling especially out there on Court One, the biggest court I’ve ever played on, so I was really nervous but I absolutely loved it once I got out there,” she said.

But her fairytale run came to an unfortunate end when she had to retire mid match against Ajla Tomljanovic in the fourth round due to breathing difficulties.

‘I arrived in New York just hoping to get through qualifying maybe’: Raducanu

Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu

Raducanu’s biggest breakthrough of her life came at Flushing Meadows where she scripted history to become the first qualifier ever to win a grand slam. And the important thing to be noted is that she did it without dropping a set. The Brit spoke about her expectations when she landed in New York.

“I arrived in New York just hoping to get through qualifying maybe. I was pretty tired. I just had the most amazing time and I think the key to that was I just focused on the day,” she said. “The time flew by, It went so fast by the end of it I was like, ‘I don’t wanna leave yet, I wanna stay’, and it was getting to the latter stages of the tournament and I was thinking, ‘but, what if? You’re here, so why not?’. But no one made a big deal of it.”

She further added that the highlight from New York is the amount of fun she had with her team. She also shared her thoughts when she entered the Arthur Ashe stadium for the first time.

“The best memories I have of New York is the amount of fun I had out there. I definitely felt I faced my own sort of obstacles and the way I overcame those. For example, the first time I stepped out onto Ashe (Arthur Ashe Stadium) I was quite nervous and didn’t realise until I started and got off to a slow start, and then the way I overcame that – by the end I was completely thriving out there in front of so many people,” she said.

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