Emma Raducanu paid huge compliment by legendary Billie Jean King – ‘She’s the real deal’

Emma Raducanu will be 'stronger' after loss says Keothavong

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Tennis legend Billie Jean King heaped exceptional praise on Emma Raducanu, referring to the teenager as ‘the real deal’ after remarkably progressing to the US Open semi-finals. The 18-year-old superstar burst onto the scene when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.

It was a fairytale run for Raducanu at her maiden grand slam, but her SW19 magic has been eclipsed by her run to the US Open semi-finals having initially reached the main tournament as a qualifier.

In doing so, Raducanu has become the youngest British woman to reach a Grand Slam semi-final since Sue Barker reached the final four of the Australian Open in 1975. 

She is one of several young stars that have impressed at the Flushing Meadows tournament, joining fellow teenagers Carlos Alvarez and Leylah Fernandez with the Canadian in the final four alongside Raducanu.

Thanks to the Brit’s standout performances, King – a 12-time Grand Slam winner – has heaped praise on Raducanu. 

“She’s the real deal,” King, who had the US Open venue named after her, told Amazon Prime Tennis. 

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“For sure. You have to embrace pressure if you are going to be any good. You have to enjoy it.

“Pressure can be your friend or your foe. You have to decide. I liked it. I expected it.

“If you want to be No 1 in the world you have to embrace it and Emma controls it beautifully. She’s very bright, very poised for age.”

King believes the emergence of such young talent has boosted the sport that appeared to be struggling for star power as the careers of Serena Williams, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal draw to a close.

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“There’s a resilience to teenagers and not having the experience is sometimes helpful,” she continued. “They don’t know as much but one thing I’ve noticed is that they’ve stayed very centred and very focused on the task in hand. They seem older than their years but young great players always do.

“Emma got a lot of help from the LTA, she’s got about four coaches and nobody had that in the old days, so that’s really good.

“Every generation gets better. I hate it when older generations talk about ‘our’ day. Forget about our day. Today is what matters and the kids today are so much better than we were.”

The 77-year-old offered some advice to Raducanu and the budding new generation, suggesting that they avoid social media where possible due to the negativity across such platforms. 

She said the young stars should focus on simply hitting each ball – but former British number one Andy Murray admitted it is difficult to remain focused in modern tennis.

However, he insisted that Raducanu’s attitude can take her a long way within the sport. 

“I’ve hit a few balls with Emma and I’ve also been around her the last couple of years, in terms of seeing her training at the National Tennis Centre because with Coronavirus, a lot of the players have been around there,” the 34-year-old added.

“Her attitude is fantastic. She trains hard, she practises well and I haven’t heard anyone who has worked with her have a bad word to say about her.

“She’s a smart girl and she’s doing extremely well. I’m sure she’ll continue along the right path.”

Emma Raducanu takes on Maria Sakkari in the US Open semi-finals on Thursday night.

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