If you roll back the film on Emma Raducanu and her triumph in New York the following revelation might shock you. The British player did not have high hopes for the grand slam with her goal being to pass the qualifiers but she was actually able to win the event and in quite dominating fashion. Raducanu did not drop a single set in the event and the reason for it was that she was very tired and wanted it to be quickly over.
Jokes aside the British player did admit to being quite tired before the event but noted that the adrenaline kept her going:
"I arrived in New York just hoping to get through qualifying maybe. I was pretty tired. I just had the most amazing time and I think the key to that was I just focused on the day. The time flew by, It went so fast by the end of it I was like, 'I don't wanna leave yet, I wanna stay', and it was getting to the latter stages of the tournament and I was thinking, 'but, what if? You're here, so why not?'. But no one made a big deal of it."
She also remembered announcing herself ot the world at Wimbledon saying:
"Wimbledon was the first moment I was being competitive on a global scale. Obviously, there was so much excitement going on and adrenaline I'd never felt before, because it was the first time. I was so proud and happy being at home playing in front of home crowd, it was such a special feeling especially out there on Court One, the biggest court I've ever played on, so I was really nervous but I absolutely loved it once I got out there."
She finally spoke about the memories she created in New York admitting:
"The best memories I have of New York is the amount of fun I had out there. I definitely felt I faced my own sort of obstacles and the way I overcame those. For example, the first time I stepped out onto Ashe (Arthur Ashe Stadium) I was quite nervous and didn't realize until I started and got off to a slow start, and then the way I overcame that - by the end, I was completely thriving out there in front of so many people."