“She won because others couldn’t step up” Mats Wilander takes a dig on Emma Raducanu’s win at the 2021 US Open
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Emma Raducanu and Mats Wilander
Emma Raducanu‘s victory at the 2021 US Open will remain one of the greatest underdog stories of all time in the history of not only tennis but in sports general. The then 18-year old was yet to win a Tour match when she travelled to New York ranked World No. 150 and made her way to the finals having entered the main-draw from the qualifiers.
Emma defeated fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez in the finals to win the Slam without dropping a single set in the 10 matches she played during the Grand Slam and post the tournament saw her rank rise 127 places as she was the new World No. 23 after the Grand Slam concluded.
While the whole of Britain was overjoyed with the win, 6-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander believes that despite it being a great win for her, Emma had luck riding on her side as other players did not play to their level which gave Emma the window of opportunity to script history at the Flushing Meadows.
“For her (Raducanu), getting the fourth round of Wimbledon was amazing, but I think she needs a few more matches under her belt so the locker room sees she can be good, even on her worse day. We were looking for stories on the women’s side of the game and then we had Naomi Osaka before Emma and Leylah Fernandez came along.
“The way they behaved on court stole everybody’s heart and it was too good to be true. Some of the players she faced along the way like Maria Sakkari, this was their chance and they couldn’t step up to the plate. You can have a good two weeks on tour these days and it was much harder to do that years ago when power was not an issue,” said Wilander as reported by Tennisuptodate.com.
Emma Raducanu to make her Australian Open debut next week
Emma’s win also ended Great Britain’s wait of 53 years for a woman US Open champion and also became the first British woman in 44 years to win a Grand Slam title. This immense success saw her awarded the MBE by the Queen of England and also won the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.
However, life after the US Open has not been good for Emma on the Tour. Of the 6 matches she has played since winning the Slam, she has won 2 while losing 4. She started her 2022 season at the WTA Sydney Tennis Classic but lost 0-6, 1-6 in 55 minutes to Elena Rybakina.
Emma is seeded 17th in the upcoming 2022 Australian Open where she will begin against Sloane Stephens making her debut at the Australian Open and will be the 3rd Slam event of her short career. While she is certainly the reigning Grand Slam champion in women’s singles, her performances on the Tour have reduced her chances but nonetheless, she will be an exciting player to watch out for.
Also Read: REVEALED! Emma Raducanu’s potential path to claim her maiden Australian Open title
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)