NEW YORK (AP) — Emma Raducanu won the U.S. Open at age 18 in 2021, becoming the first qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam title. Since then, she hasn’t won a match in New York.
It hasn’t been the outcome many would have expected. But this year, back again at the location of her shot to stardom, the British player looks more primed than ever to make the type of run her fans have been hoping for.
“You’re never going to feel completely perfect,” Raducanu said Friday, two days before the year’s last major tournament begins. “You’re never going to feel 100 percent ready, but as ready as I can be. That’s how I feel.”
She may not feel completely ready, but her hard-court resume this season hints that she’s pretty close.
The American hard-court swing through Washington, Montreal and Cincinnati over the past month — which she credits as a boost heading into Flushing Meadows this year — has been one of the strongest of her career.
She reached the semifinals at the DC Open in July with victories over four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and Maria Sakkari, and in Cincinnati pushed No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to three sets and two tiebreakers.
With that momentum falling into place and much more experience under her belt, this year’s U.S. Open feels different to Raducanu.
“I think now is the first time that I feel I can come back to the U.S. Open and really enjoy the memories that I made here and be proud and see it as a happy place,” she said. “I feel in a much better place now.”
In recent years, Raducanu — whose first-round opponent at Flushing Meadows will be someone who played in the qualifying event this week — struggled to retain the momentum that came with her Slam title. An ankle surgery, a pair of wrist surgeries and multiple coaching switches left her outside the top 200 in the rankings by the end of the 2023 season, a low point that she’s been battling back from.
But the possible answer to her coaching problem — and one of the buzziest parts of her time in New York this year — is her new arrangement with Francis Roig, who worked for many years with Rafael Nadal. Roig joined Raducanu’s team less than a month ago.
“I think so far it’s been going pretty well,” Raducanu said of the partnership. “Time passes so fast, which is a good sign whenever you’re spending time with someone.”
Discussions between the two of them began after Wimbledon, where Raducanu played a tight third-round match against Sabalenka.
“It was quite a good match with Aryna. … I think it helped my case,” Raducanu said with a smile.
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
