Emma Raducanu's US Open victory is the talk of the sporting world. Luke Jensen watched all of her games before talking to Joe Molloy on Off The Ball.
Raducanu became the only qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam at the US Open. She bridged a gap for Britain back to Virginia Wade's last grand slam victory - Wimbledon in 1977.
Not only did Raducanu win the US Open at just 18 years of age, but she also won every single set on the way. In this age of blanket media coverage of all sports, you'd assume that someone saw her coming. But Jensen says otherwise.
"She was a powerful Junior. She beat [Layla] Fernandez, who she beat in the final here at this US Open, in 2018 at Wimbledon Juniors.," Jensen said.
"You see a lot of talent, look at both the mens and womens game and if you didn't know the faces and the rankings, you see great ball striking and everything. But her specifically, she is the ultimate Cinderella story. The girl that finds and fits into the glass slipper."
Fernandez herself is only 19 years of age. Both were supreme success stories that came out of nowhere, but Raducanu is not just young but also supremely inexperienced.
A Cinderella Story
"The US Open was her fifth tournament at the tour level period. She'd only won seven matches. That included the three at Wimbledon, the four at a small WTA event before the US Open. She was playing the challengers, the minor leagues.
She was doing okay.
After Wimbledon she went from 300 to 150.
She wasn't even going to get a wildcard into Wimbledon but she'd won two matches in a smaller tournament. Not a tour level event, a minor-league tournament in Nottingham, and the Wimbledon committee with Tim Henman said 'You know what let's award this last-minute opportunity or she wasn't even going to play Wimbledon."
Jensen is delighted that they did because he now views Raducanu as not just a great success story but a star for the future.
"For her to get on a roll and not drop a set. The closest set was 7-5 and that was in the second round of qualifying. To me it shows you can't predict greatness, but boy you can see it when the lights are brightest. I watched every one of those matches from start to finish...she is a supernova of a superstar.
If you watched the match, the blood going down her leg when she had to serve it out. She just has a gift of navigating ultimate pressure and I am so excited for her.
She is the real deal.”
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