TEEN DREAM
Go and create history, Wade urges Raducanu
BRITAIN’S last Queen of NewYork has told young pretender Emma Raducanu to make history in the US Open final.
Virginia Wade, whose 1968 win is the only British women’s victory at the event in the Open era, is backing Raducanu to enjoy a stellar career whatever happens tonight against Canadian sensation Leylah Fernandez.
Wade, right, said: “I’m sure she is the real thing. You don’t get someone head and shoulders above that often and I
BY NOW, Bibiane Schoofs should be feeling a little bit better about herself.
The 33-year-old Dutch woman stepped onto No.11 court in the first round of US Open qualifying on August 25 and was promptly blasted back off it 6-1 6-2 by a teenage bombshell who has gone on to rewrite tennis history.
Schoofs was the first – but by no means not the last – to feel the wrath of Emma Raducanu.
Nine opponents have now fallen at her feet and the hardbitten New York crowds have swooned with them as she has become the first player, female or male, to make a Grand Slam final from the qualifiers.
Her latest victim, Greek Maria Sakkari, walked into the Arthur Ashe Stadium in the early hours of yesterday morning UK time thinking it was her moment, at 26, to claim a place in a major final.
Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, 19, was waiting for the new world No.13 – all she had to do was get rid of the Briton on the other side of the net.
But Sakkari followed the same path as the others and it led to the exit door, Raducanu hardly putting a foot wrong as she cruised to a 6-1 6-4 triumph in less than an hour-and-a-half.
Raducanu, 18, has yet to drop a set since first setting foot on these hallowed grounds three weeks ago.
She has seen her ranking rocket from 338 two months ago to somewhere around 30, and done it with a mix of brilliant shot-making, incredible athleticism and an ability to handle pressure far better than any of the much higherranked opponents she has encountered.
And she has done it with a smile and an ability to connect with the fans that has made her a favourite on both sides of the pond.
“Being young, there is an element of you do play completely free,” said Raducanu. “I’m just thinking of the game plan and how to execute.
“That’s what landed me in this situation. It hasn’t been focusing on who’s expected to win this match or that one.”
Fernandez, her opponent tonight, can say the same thing.
The similarities in their backgrounds are the sub-plots to two remarkable stories.
Both were born in Canada – Raducanu’s family moved to London when she was two – both have Asian mothers and the pair have grown up on each other’s radars as they have hurtled through the ranks.
It was only three years ago that they met in the second round of junior Wimbledon, the Briton winning in straight sets on a quiet outside court.
Tonight, they are reunited in front of 24,000 raucous New Yorkers in the world’s biggest stadium. The speed of the journey is not lost on Raducanu.
“It was definitely under-12s when we first encountered each other, so we kind of made a little relationship back then,” she said.
“Then I played her at juniorWimbledon.
“Since then we’ve come far in our games and as people. I’m sure it’s going to be extremely different from when we last encountered each other.
“Here, my level has surprised me in the way I’ve managed to step up against some of the best players in the world.
“I knew I had some sort of level that was similar to these girls but didn’t know if I was able to maintain it over a set or two sets.
“To be able to do it, I honestly can’t believe it.
“I always had dreams of playing in Grand Slams but I just didn’t know when they would come.
“To come at this point in my career, I’ve only really been on tour for a month, two months since Wimbledon – it’s pretty crazy to me.”