EM’S MAD FOR IT
Raducanu insists she’s in best form since US Open triumph
EMMA RADUCANU says she is playing her best tennis since winning the US Open after reaching the last 16 of the Madrid Masters without dropping a set.
And the British No.1, now the highest seed left in her half of the draw, claims she is finally feeling like herself again.
The No.9 seed will face world No.37 Anhelina Kalinina tonight as she seeks to win three matches in the same event since her stunning New York triumph (right) last September.
Her promising start to a first professional claycourt season follows six months of injury problems and poor form as a Grand Slam champ.
And her ecstatic reaction after beating fellow teenager
Marta Kostyuk in the second round in the Spanish capital showed the 19-year-old is back in the old routine.
“It definitely meant a lot because, over the last six months, I’ve gone through a lot of challenges and I feel like now I’ve come to terms with things and have started enjoying the journey,” Raducanu said.
“It is just coming back from getting knocked down again and again and again. And then, finally, you feel like you’re yourself again. Is it the best I have played since September at the US Open?
“Yeah, I feel like I’ve been practising really well in the last few weeks and I think I have definitely brought a lot of confidence from that.
“I thought to myself, given my level on the practice court: ‘Why don’t you just replicate it on the match court and swing as freely and go for your shots just as much,’ and I definitely feel like I’m in a really good space with my tennis right now.
“I think this is the most amount of matches I have played in a short space of time and I feel it definitely helps.
“At the end of last year it was tough. If you lose early, you don’t feel like you’re building any sort of momentum, but now I’ve played a lot of matches so I’m feeling better and making better decisions.
“You don’t get that when you don’t play for a long time. But, when you have a lot of matches back to back, certain choices become automatic for you.”
If Raducanu is gaining momentum like she did in New York, her draw is opening up just like it did at Flushing Meadows.
World No.1 Iga Swiatek pulled out after the draw was made and Garbine Muguruza, Maria Sakkari, Danielle Collins and Naomi Osaka have all been knocked out of her half in Madrid.
Raducanu, who does not have a full-time coach, admitted she had “no idea” about her next opponent Kalinina (inset) but added: “I’ll watch her for sure.”