One of the newest faces of tennis is 18-year-old Emma Raducanu, who won her first US Open and 10th Women’s Indoor title last week.
According to the Boston Globe, Raducanu shared her thoughts on her big win after beating Ana Konjuh 6-2, 6-4 to finish her US Open week at 10-1.
She also agreed that having an experienced player in her corner – her mother, Jackie – was a big factor in her victory.
“No nerves, no nothing,” Raducanu said, according to the Globe. “Just went out there and was playing. I had a big serve, and I was serving good.
“I just played from the heart. My teammates have been so supportive, and Mom’s been so, so supportive. All the media are great, and so is Boston. It’s been a lot of fun.”
John McEnroe agreed that there was no pressure on Raducanu to succeed.
“I mean, do you think it would have been the same if she was someone else? I don’t,” he said on FOX’s Audience Network program FOX & Friends Saturday morning. “It just takes a person who takes chances and goes for it. She’s one of the great young players, but she just takes chances and goes for it.
“She doesn’t try to avoid the tennis and just tries to do things as well as she can.”
McEnroe also praised Raducanu for bouncing back from a bad start in her third round match at the US Open against No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber.
“She lost the first set, the second, and the third,” McEnroe said. “She was down two sets to none. She came back and she won it 4-6, 1-6. Then she’s the youngest player in history to win the US Open.”
Raducanu told the Boston Globe she never doubted that she would win because of the support of her fans.
“They were so, so good,” she said of her home crowd. “It really, really meant a lot to me to play the way I played.”