Former world number five and British number one Jo Durie believes Raducanu winning the
US Open is a brilliant thing for British tennis.
British tennis has a longstanding tradition yet except for Andy Murray that has not been too much success. Recently many other players have been able to climb to the top but none of them impressed as much as
Emma Raducanu did. The teenager climbed to the top of the US Open after a brilliant run that saw him demolish her opponents en route to the trophy.
Former British number one Jo Durie believes it will motivate and inspire other British youngsters:
“Emma Raducanu won the UK Pro League last year and there are some
players who played her in this country not so long ago and beat her. Then
a few months later, they see her winning a Grand Slam and they will
think why can’t I do something like that. It has given them extra
motivation and confidence."
Durie noticed Raducanu's win affect many people in the UK positively and on that she said:
“It really has had an impact on a lot of people. She is so engaging
as a character, easy to watch as she is such a great player and it
really has inspired a lot of people and given our game a massive boost. What
I saw in Emma in recent years is someone who I knew was going to be
very good, but to win a Grand Slam like that, no I didn’t see that
happening."
She finished it off with:
“This was someone who didn’t play much at the start of this year, had
not even played a match on the WTA Tour and then she played in the
manner she did at Wimbledon before we all saw what happened at the US
Open. That was not on anyone’s radar, but we can
all see the talent there. She works hard, is eager to learn, has a
great temperament, so let’s celebrate her success. It’s fantastic for
Emma and everyone involved in British tennis.”