Andy Roddick counts himself among the many fans of Emma Raducanu as the American was courtside watching the young Brit make history in the US Open final against Fernandez.
Roddick has been thoroughly impressed by what the youngster was able to do but he understands that the true struggle comes after your first triumph. Raducanu experienced it herself with high expectations clearly playing a role in her recent struggles on the WTA Tour. Roddick believes that in expectation lies the key because she won the US Open playing carefree tennis as there were no expectations:
“What she did at the US Open was unbelievable but it was largely without the expectation of ‘if you don’t win this final it’s bad for you’, it was all gravy (slang for great) from the third round on for her, without taking anything away from her."
Now Roddick believes everything changed:
“But it is a different type of pressure set now, I was going to say quarter-finals [as an expectation]. What I would want to see is consistent weeks where she is winning three matches, winning four matches every week."
He finished off with:
“That would be the next benchmark if I am on her team, getting the consistency dialled in so that our baseline is top 20 in the world and our upper echelon is what you did at the US Open, which we were all amazed by.”
Raducanu hired former Kerber coach Beltz as her new coach and with his experience, the Brit hopes he can help her translate to a more consistent tennis player on the biggest stage of women's tennis.