Emma Raducanu says US Open ‘doesn’t feel different at all’ without Andy Murray
Raducanu was due to play with the Scot in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon but pulled out on the eve of their first-round match
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Your support makes all the difference.Emma Raducanu insists the tennis world moves on quickly as life after Andy Murray begins at the US Open.
Murray called time on his glittering career after the Olympic Games and the New York tournament is the first grand slam in the post-Murray era.
Raducanu was due to play with the Scot in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon but pulled out on the eve of their first-round match, which ended Murray’s SW19 career.
Asked whether anything felt different in New York without Murray around, she said: “It doesn’t feel different at all. Tennis is unforgiving in that sense.
“No matter who you are, it just moves on. There is always another match, there is always another tournament.
“Of course Andy has achieved amazing things and I watched him win this tournament but it is a fast pace, just like life is. It’s old news the next day kind of thing.
“I think the Brits are doing really well right now. I think overall, we are all kind of pushing each other, we are all competitive.
“You see other ones doing well and you want to do the same. I think, especially with the guys, there are a lot more guys in qualifying this year which is really cool.
“Because when I came three years ago, there were barely any players. Now I feel there are lot more who have chances to do well even in the main.”
Raducanu says she is returning to Flushing Meadows with a different outlook this year.
The 21-year-old stunned the world when she won three years ago in what was just her fourth senior-level tournament.
She has not won a match in New York since as she suffered a first-round exit in 2022 and was injured last season.
Raducanu, who plays former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in Tuesday’s first round, says she has now come to terms with her famous victory and feels pride.
“I feel a lot better. I feel very proud when I come here,” she said.
“Walking past my photo every day. Walking past my name on the trophy every day. I think that is such an epic achievement and these two weeks, I completed it.
“For me, coming back here now, I come back with such a different outlook. Just joy and pride and it inspires me to want to do more.
“I would say I was a lot more nervous and I think I felt pressure more (in 2022). It is natural. I still didn’t come to terms with it.
“I think overall now, I am in a much more solid and consistent state than I was when I came back last time.”
Raducanu comes into the tournament fresh from a two-week training block after deciding not to enter qualification for recent events in Toronto and Cincinnati as she carefully manages her schedule following double wrist and ankle surgery last year.
She accepts she intends to play more frequently than she has this year, but will never play every tournament.
“I don’t think I will ever be the player who is playing close to 30 events a year,” she added.
Walking past my photo every day. Walking past my name on the trophy every day. I think that is such an epic achievement and these two weeks, I completed it
“It is not my style – it never has been. When I was playing juniors even, I would just play a few tournaments, play the slams and go to school.
“I have kind of always done it that way. Even when I won the US Open, I only played a few tournaments that year. Yes, they were closer together.
“I am not in any big rush to play loads. I would rather target tournaments and be ready to play the tournaments that I am entered in.”
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