By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday September 11, 2021
Fresh off winning her maiden Grand Slam title on her second career Grand Slam appearance, Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu says she is intent on staying free of pressure and expectations.
Of course, she’s gone from a relative unknown to a bona fide megastar in the span of three weeks, and she’s still got little idea of how intense the scrutiny will be from the British press now that she’s become the first woman from her country to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1977, but Raducanu has the right idea.
“For me I don't feel absolutely any pressure,” she said. “I'm still only 18 years old. I'm just having a free swing as anything that comes my way. That's how I faced every match here in the States. Yeah, it got me this trophy, so I don't think I should change anything.”
The 18-year-old smashed a number of records at this year’s US Open. She became the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova in 2004, and the first qualifier to ever win a Grand Slam title.
She’s also shattered the record for fewest Grand Slam main draws played before winning her first major (2).
And let’s not forget she won all 20 sets she played through qualifying, which is nothing short of remarkable.
What was her biggest triumph of the tournament? We’ll let her tell you:
“I think the biggest triumph for me is how I managed to just not think of absolutely anything else except for my game plan, what I'm going to execute,” she said. “I didn't really think anything other than what was going on on the tennis court. All the outside stuff, I just completely zoned in and focused on my craft. When I was on the tennis court, it was just business as usual, focusing on the plays. That's the biggest thing that I'm proud of. I think that's definitely the biggest thing that's probably helped me to win this title.”