Last year, Emma Raducanu sat in a back room of the Arthur Ashe stadium, cap pulled low over reddened eyes, and wept. Twelve months on and the cap is gone, the tears are gone and the smile is well and truly back.
The US Open has always been the place where the volatility of Raducanu’s career has been most apparent. Her title here in 2021 was a moment of ecstasy but also of profound loss of innocence. Look back at pictures of Raducanu in her moments of victory, and treading the red carpet at the Met Gala days after: a girl with stars in her eyes, Tiffany diamonds in her ears, the world at her feet – and a tidal wave of intrusion and criticism on the horizon which she never saw coming.
It is little wonder that returning to New York since then has brought mixed emotions.
In 2022, defending her title, she was wracked by nerves. In 2023 she missed the tournament altogether with injuries. Last year she came in ice cold having played only one event since Wimbledon and lost in the first round to Sofia Kenin. Then came those tears.
The contrast to this time could not be greater. Raducanu is in good form on and off the court. She has a near-permanent smile on her face, a full schedule of matches in her legs and a blue-chip coach in her corner.
‘I do feel very different,’ said Raducanu. ‘I really struggled in 2022, I didn’t enjoy coming back here. Now is the first time I feel like I can come back to the US Open and really enjoy the memories I made here, be proud of that and see it as a happy place.
Emma Radacanu has revealed that she is in a ‘happy place’ again ahead of the 2025 US Open
Last year, Raducanu left the US Open in tears after a first-round exit and struggles with fitness
‘For that, I feel very grateful. I feel in a much better place now.’
She takes on Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara at 4pm UK time on Sunday, attempting to win a first match here since the 2021 final.
‘I feel relaxed, I feel happy,’ said Raducanu. ‘I feel in a way the same as four years ago in terms of just enjoying my tennis, enjoying practicing, enjoying competing and the process of getting better.
‘But I am more aware now of everything that is possible. When I won in 2021, I didn’t know about this world of negativity and bringing people down.
‘That affected me a lot in the last few years. It still definitely gets me from time to time but I can enjoy what I’m doing day to day a lot more. I have good people around so I’m just happy I’m in this place with my tennis.’
Asked if she is playing her best tennis since winning the title here, Raducanu replied: ‘Yes. I’m playing well. Pushing Aryna (Sabalenka, in a three-hour match in Cincinnati) is a great motivation, a great inspiration for me.
‘I’m still relatively young in terms of doing the right things over and over so I want to give myself a lot more time to achieve what I want to. But for now I’m just happy I’m building towards something.’
So, how did she turn things around so dramatically in a year? It all comes back to those tears. That was a pivotal time for Raducanu, when she resolved to take greater ownership of her career.
Radacanu has been helped by new coach Francis Roig, a rebuilt fitness regime, and a decision to reduce sponsor demands
When we asked her last year whose decision it was to play so little in the build up to the Open, Raducanu replied: ‘I would say it wasn’t me. It was more of a collective call.’ It then transpired she had been carrying an injury which had not been divulged to the media – news which would have dampened the criticism she received.
In the off-season Raducanu resolved to be more open in her communication and – more importantly – to play a properly full schedule. She also decided to cut back on the amount of time allocated to sponsor commitments.
She has delivered on every count. Raducanu has a stubborn streak, as all top athletes must, but she cannot be accused of failing to learn from her mistakes.
Last year, her body was simply not durable enough for the rigours of the tennis season. She brought in Japanese fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura and – although he has not been available much of late due for personal reasons – he has helped transform her physicality.
Nakamura identified that Raducanu was unusually flexible, meaning some of her injuries were down to being able to get herself into awkward positions. He focussed on Raducanu’s ‘end range’ strength to make sure her body was robust when at full stretch.
The result has been 17 tournaments played so far, already four more than last year. Unless she sustains her first serious injury of the season, she will comfortably eclipse her previous high-water mark of 18 events in 2022.
Raducanu also has a new coach in her corner: Francis Roig, Rafael Nadal’s assistant coach for 18 years.
‘I can put a lot of trust in Francis leading me through the right steps, leading me through the right practices,’ said Raducanu. ‘I think that’s why I feel a lot more relaxed and I can see myself improve.
Radacanu is full of confidence after a solid showing in Wimbeldon where she put up a good fight against world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka
‘When it’s going to happen I don’t know but I just enjoy the work I’m doing, I enjoy being around him and what we’re doing each day. To see a few results in matches, that helps too.’
An allusion there to another mindset shift from Raducanu: since the fairytale of New York she – and most of Britain – were guilty of expecting too much, of comparing every result to that incredible run. Her stop-gap coach Mark Petchey put it best at the French Open when he said: ‘Your career starts now.’
She has made a strong new beginning.
Now, what of her fellow British No1, Jack Draper? In a reversal of last year, while Raducanu rides a wave of form he is the one coming in cold.
An arm injury means he has not been in singles action since that dreadfully disappointing second-round defeat by Marin Cilic at Wimbledon. But he is at his very best on these courts, demonstrated spectacularly by a run to the semi-finals here. It will be a tall order for him to repeat that feat, given he is due to meet world No1 Jannik Sinner – the man who beat him last year – in the quarter-finals.
In fact it is difficult to see anyone preventing a third consecutive Grand Slam final between Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. Those two have met in the championship match of the last four events in which they have both competed and if they do so again it would be the first time in the Open Era that three Slam finals in a year have been contested by the same two men.
On the women’s side, defending champion Sabalenka will try to break the streak of 10 different winners of this title in the last 11 years. Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek has blazed back into form after an awful 12 months and it would be wonderful to see the two pre-eminent players of their generation meet in a Grand Slam final for the first time.
