Chronicle Editor
Emma Raducanu says she is returning to the US Open with a different outlook this year.
The 21-year-old stunned the world when she won at Flushing Meadows three years ago in what was just her fourth senior-level tournament.
She has not won a match in New York since as she suffered a first-round exit in 2022 and was injured last season.
Raducanu, who plays former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in Tuesday’s first round, says she has now come to terms with her famous victory and feels pride.
“I feel a lot better. I feel very proud when I come here,” she said.
“Walking past my photo every day. Walking past my name on the trophy every day. I think that is such an epic achievement and these two weeks, I completed it.
“For me, coming back here now, I come back with such a different outlook. Just joy and pride and it inspires me to want to do more.
“I would say I was a lot more nervous and I think I felt pressure more (in 2022). It is natural. I still didn’t come to terms with it.
“I think overall now, I am in a much more solid and consistent state than I was when I came back last time.”
Raducanu comes into the tournament fresh from a two-week training block after deciding not to enter qualification for recent events in Toronto and Cincinnati as she carefully manages her schedule following double wrist and ankle surgery last year.
She accepts she intends to play more frequently than she has this year, but will never play every tournament.
“I don’t think I will ever be the player who is playing close to 30 events a year,” she added.
“It is not my style – it never has been. When I was playing juniors even, I would just play a few tournaments, play the slams and go to school.
“I have kind of always done it that way. Even when I won the US Open, I only played a few tournaments that year. Yes, they were closer together.
“I am not in any big rush to play loads. I would rather target tournaments and be ready to play the tournaments that I am entered in.”
The US Open represents the first grand slam in the post Andy Murray era, with Raducanu, Katie Boulter, Harriet Dart, Jack Draper, Dan Evans and Jan Choinski flying the British flag in New York.
Raducanu says it is business as usual and says British tennis is in a good spot.
“It doesn’t feel different at all. Tennis is unforgiving in that sense,” she said. “No matter who you are, it just moves on. There is always another match, there is always another tournament.”
– PA
Online Reporter