Emma Raducanu makes rankings vow as Brit faces losing ‘all my WTA points’

08/09/2022

Russian-state TV delights in Emma Raducanu's new Russian coach

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Defending US Open champion Emma Raducanu claims to be unfazed by the prospect of losing ‘all her ranking points’ as she bids to harness the pressure and put on another impressive show at Flushing Meadows. The Brit is yet to hit the heights that she did in her first two Grand Slams, when she followed up a scintillating Wimbledon run with glory in New York.

Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam when she went all the way at the US Open almost 12 months ago. A two-set win over Leylah Fernandez in the final meant she went the entire tournament, including the qualifiers, without dropping a set.

But she has struggled to hit those heights since, withdrawing from a number of tournaments due to injury and crashing out of the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon in the second round. She recently discussed the expectations that come with her return to Flushing Meadows, and vowed to fight back up the rankings if her WTA points tumble.

“[Pressure] is only either what I put on myself or what I expect from myself,” Raducanu told reporters.

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Raducanu, who was born in Toronto, discussed her rapid rise to prominence in the lead-up to the tournament. “To have success at a young age, obviously you have to be really grateful because I’m doing what I love,” she said.

“But also I’ve reached success way earlier than I ever really would have thought I did. So I’m pretty proud of myself in that way. But it has been a tough year. I’ve definitely gone through and experienced a lot of challenges. To be fair, I’ve learned a lot from all of it.”

“I only feel the pressure or think about it whenever I’m in my press conferences because every single question is about pressure. I’m really looking forward to just going back [to New York] and whatever happens I think that it’s going to be a nice close to a chapter, go full circle.

“Regardless of whatever the result is, I can just start again, clean slate. If all my points drop off then I’ll work my way back up. I think it will be, regardless of what happens, [a] fresh start.”

Raducanu, who currently sits 10th in the WTA world rankings, went on a promising run at the Citi Open in Washington last week. The British teenager blitzed Louisa Chirico in straight sets and did the same to Camila Osorio before falling 7-6 6-1 to Ludmilla Samsonova in the quarter-finals.

The Russian world No 60 outgunned Raducanu with powerful serves and forehands, leaving the youngster with a dilemma to solve if she faces a similar opponent in New York. Her next outing is pencilled in for Tuesday afternoon with a Canadian Open first-round clash against Italian Camila Giorgi.

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