Emma Raducanu: US Open finalist has 'got the whole package'
Jo Durie and Naomi Broady speak to BBC Breakfast about British teenager Emma Raducanu reaching the US Open tennis final in New York.
Jo Durie and Naomi Broady speak to BBC Breakfast about British teenager Emma Raducanu reaching the US Open tennis final in New York.
As British teenager Emma Raducanu reached the US Open final, BBC Sport charts her rapid rise – with the help of a host of experts.
British teenager Emma Raducanu says reaching her first Grand Slam final at the US Open feels “crazy, cool and absolutely mind-blowing”.
Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez shocks Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka to reach the US Open final – where she could face 18-year-old Briton Emma Raducanu.
Former World No. 7 David Goffin announced on Instagram Thursday that he will miss the rest of 2021 due to a knee injury.
“Unfortunately I won’t be able to compete again this year in 2021. It’s been a tough year with some injuries with my ankle earlier this year and my knee is bothering me for too long now,” Goffin said in a video. “So I took the decision not to play again, not to compete this year. I will take the time now for my body. It’s important to take the time to fully recover.
“I need it, my body needs it. I think those four months will be necessary to come back stronger in 2022.”
The Belgian finishes his season with a 14-15 record. Goffin lifted his fifth ATP Tour trophy in February at Montpellier, where he defeated Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in a three-set final.
Keeping points short and sweet has made Felix Auger-Aliassime’s performance a treat at this US Open.
The Canadian star is into his first major semi-final at Flushing Meadows and the 21-year-old has made his impressive run in large part by dominating the short rallies in New York.
Auger-Aliassime has won 56 per cent (391/698) of rallies between zero and four shots thanks to his strong work with his first serve at the season’s final major. The eight-time ATP Tour finalist entered this event winning 76 per cent of his first-serve points this year, and has claimed 81 per cent of his first-serve points at the US Open.
Felix has delivered 85 aces compared to 30 double faults — hitting eight double faults in two different matches.
Felix’s Serving Stats – Pre-2021 US Open vs. US Open
| Stat | Pre-2021 US Open | US Open |
| 1st-Serve Pts Won | 76% | 81% |
| 2nd-Serve Pts Won | 52% | 52% |
| Service Games Won | 84% | 92% |
The 12th seed will have to continue playing his aggressive first-strike tennis against two-time major finalist and second seed Daniil Medvedev.
“I also need to step up and be confident in myself. I need to serve well. I need to play a great match, be solid from every aspect of my game,” Auger-Aliassime said. “At the same time I need to try to put pressure on him. But it’s going to be tough. I need to be ready for his best.”
What makes it tricky for Auger-Aliassime is that Medvedev has been even more dominant on the shortest points. The second seed has won nearly 63 per cent of rallies between zero and four shots and lost serve just five times in five matches.
The difference is that while Medvedev has also done well in longer rallies, Auger-Aliassime has not. The first-time major semi-finalist has won 50 per cent of points (151/300) between five and eight shots and just 46 per cent of rallies (61/143) of nine shots or more.
Felix & Daniil’s Rally Stats – 2021 US Open
| Rally Length | Felix Auger-Aliassime | Daniil Medvedev |
| 0-4 Shots | 56% (391/698) | 63% (304/486) |
| 5-8 Shots | 50% (151/300) | 56% (118/212) |
| 9+ Shots | 43% (61/143) | 53% (83/157) |
Medvedev, however, has been in the green in both categories. That will make it even more imperative for Auger-Aliassime to keep points short.
Medvedev spoke to the media before Auger-Aliassime and Alcaraz played their quarter-final and said that he believes they are similar players, and that it would be important to prevent them from playing their game.
“[You] should try to not give them all the time they want,” Medvedev said. “Otherwise, they are going to destroy you.”
The average rally length in Medvedev’s matches has been 5.3 strokes, while Auger-Aliassime’s has been 4.2. Will Felix continue firing early and often to control rallies with his serve and first-shot power, or will Daniil drag the Canadian deeper into rallies and drown him with his consistency?
Auger-Aliassime will hope that keeping it short and sweet will pay dividends once more and yield his first berth in a major final.
Nine times during his quest to complete the Grand Slam this year Novak Djokovic has dropped the first set. And nine times he has rallied to win. It’s a statistic without precedent in Grand Slam history, but it hasn’t been achieved through happenstance.
After dropping a gruelling 78-minute first set against Matteo Berrettini in their late-night quarter-final at Flushing Meadows Wednesday, there was no panic in the Djokovic camp. There was no sense that the finish line looked a deflating distance away.
The Serbian knows that he is perhaps the fittest and most finely tuned athlete in the history of the sport. And so do his opponents. He’s the best player in the world, but the best-of-five format at the majors amplifies his dominance and is a key reason why he’s won eight of the past 12 Slams. Like a casino, the longer someone plays, the greater the odds tilt towards the house.
Make it 8️⃣0️⃣ wins in New York for the legend, Novak Djokovic. pic.twitter.com/zcfVXsh1Fx
— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 9, 2021
“I know what my strengths are. I stick to them,” Djokovic said in his post-match press conference after beating Berrettini. “I’ve worked over the years to perfect my game so that my game can have literally no flaws. Every player has some weaknesses in his game.
“There’s always something you can improve. I want to have as complete of an all-around game as I possibly can so that when I’m playing someone I can adjust on any surface, I can come up with different styles of play, I can tactically implement the game that I need for that particular match in order to win.”
Earlier this year at Roland Garros, Djokovic rallied from two sets down to beat Lorenzo Musetti in the fourth round and against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
Djokovic has won 25 of his past 26 Grand Slam matches decided in four or five sets (with the only blemish being a 7-5 fifth-set loss to Dominic Thiem in the 2019 Roland Garros semi-finals). That’s not something lost on his opponents, especially when they struggle to build on early success they may have earned in a match.
“I want my opponents to feel that I can get any ball, that I can play comfortably from the back of the court, on the net, serving, returning,” Djokovic said. “Over the years working on perfecting the game has really helped me I think just be very adaptable to anybody’s game and to any surface.
“My kind of constitution of the body, I guess my work on the court and also fitness-wise, has always been based on equally paying attention to every aspect of my physical abilities, whether it’s strength, flexibility, agility, speed. I always want to have everything on a satisfying level so that I could always come up with the element I need in that particular moment.”
As Alexander Zverev looks to take the confidence of his 16-match winning streak and Olympics victory over Djokovic into Friday’s semi-finals, he’ll also be mindful of their Australian Open meeting in February. After Djokovic dropped the first set, he fought back to win 7-6 in the fourth. That was the first of his nine victories coming from a set down this year at the majors.
Djokovic’s Record When Losing 1st Set At Majors
| Year | W-L |
| 2005 | 1-3 |
| 2006 | 2-4 |
| 2007 | 1-3 |
| 2008 | 4-3 |
| 2009 | 2-3 |
| 2010 | 3-3 |
| 2011 | 1-1 |
| 2012 | 4-3 |
| 2013 | 4-3 |
| 2014 | 1-1 |
| 2015 | 1-0 |
| 2016 | 2-1 |
| 2017 | 1-3 |
| 2018 | 2-2 |
| 2019 | 0-2 |
| 2020 | 2-1 |
| 2021 | 9-0 |
– With statistical assistance from Greg Sharko
British duo Joe Salisbury and Jamie Murray meet in the final of the men’s doubles at the US Open after winning their semi-finals.
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury won a final-set tie-break in their third-round match before saving four match points in a two-hour, 58-minute quarter-final marathon at the US Open. The American-British duo bounced back well on Thursday when they defeated Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 7-6(5), 6-4 to reach the final at Flushing Meadows.
“I don’t know if it frees us up, but certainly you feel match-tough,” Ram said. “You feel like you’re ready to handle whatever is going to come your way.”
The fourth seeds, who lifted the trophy in Toronto last month and emerged victorious at the 2020 Australian Open, did not face a break point and converted their only opportunity to triumph after one hour and 18 minutes.
“Obviously excited to come through,” Salisbury said. “We knew it was going to be a tough match. Very dangerous team. Both have got big games, so if they play well, then it can kind of take it out of your hands. Just happy how we stayed focussed on what we do well.”
Ram and Salisbury have made the semi-finals in five of the past seven majors. This will be their third Grand Slam championship match as a team.
“It helps a lot,” Ram said of their experience deep in majors. “We are feeling like in these positions we have been there before, and now it’s going to be our third final together. I think experience never hurts when you feel like you can draw on something that’s happened before.”
They will next play seventh seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who battled past eighth seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. This is Soares’ first tournament since Wimbledon, as the Brazilian underwent surgery to remove his appendix upon arriving at the Tokyo Olympics.
Murray and Soares lifted major trophies together at the Australian Open and US Open in 2016. Soares was also victorious at Flushing Meadows last year alongside Mate Pavic.
This is the first time in the Open Era that two Britons will meet in a major men’s doubles final. Ram and Salisbury beat Murray and Soares in their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting earlier this year in the Australian Open semi-finals.
Did You Know?
Salisbury is trying to become the first man to win men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same year at the US Open since 2010, when Bob Bryan accomplished the feat.
Daniil Medvedev has advanced to the US Open semi-finals with the loss of just one set as he pursues his first major trophy. The Russian has made the last for at this event in three consecutive years, and will play Felix Auger-Aliassime for a spot in his third major final.
Before the match, ATPTour.com spoke to Medvedev’s longtime coach, Gilles Cervara, about his charge’s progression through the tournament, how much he has changed since making his first semi-final at Flushing Meadows two years ago, dealing with pressure and more.
How happy are you with the tournament so far?
On one side I’m happy because Daniil is in the semi-finals with full energy because he won all his matches in three sets and one in four sets. Even in the four-setter, the match was not that long. The other part of me is thinking we are just in the semi-final. It’s a good thing, but not enough for us.
How would you say your mindset has changed since making that first semi-final here a couple of years ago?
I think the mindset doesn’t change really, because even at that moment, our goal was to be the best we could be. It means when you have to play one match, you want to win that match. We want to do everything we have to do to win that match. Daniil is No. 2 in the world, so it’s something normal to be here and [want to] win every tournament. But if you see the details, it’s the same mindset.
Of course when you make your first semi-final, you feel that it’s something big, so that’s why you are not prepared to be in the semi-final. It’s new, you have a lot of emotion, you are proud of yourself. It’s something really big. Today, to be in the semi-final, it’s not as big as it was in the past. But the mindset to perform, succeed, do your best and be the best player you can be is exactly the same.
Photo Credit: Garrett Ellwood/USTA
From a coaching perspective, what have you learned from Daniil’s previous runs this deep in majors, including his two major finals?
My mindset is the same since I’m a kid. I try to do the best I can do and perform in everything I can do. I didn’t learn so many things about the performance. For me, it’s the same. But what I learned is the question I have in myself about players.
When you have a player like Daniil, it’s to try to understand or know what makes the difference between Daniil for example or another player in the Top 30 or Top 100, to realise what makes the difference between these guys in their potential. That’s an interesting question, because you can realise that there is some part of these top players that they’re born with this and some players don’t have this and that makes success tougher to get.
Have you studied the Big Three to try to understand what allows them to perform at their best in the big moments?
Of course, I see it every day with Daniil, and especially when he plays big matches like he already did many times and like he will do tomorrow. In matches, adversity makes him find the best in himself. The match is the most important part to find his best and sometimes during practice, you cannot reach this level of adversity. Matches make these players better for sure.
All these experiences for players, it’s like somewhere inside them. Of course they use it like something invisible, like self confidence, that they already lived something like this to help them win that kind of match.
How different do you believe Daniil is as a player compared to a couple years ago?
You get more mature, more experience. And when we talk about experience, it’s the ability to play this kind of match with less stress, and to know more about himself and get prepared the best way he has to be. It’s all the small things. I hope it can make a small difference against Felix, who is playing his first semi-final in a Grand Slam.
Medvedev reached his first major final in New York two years ago. Photo Credit: AFP/Getty Images
How much could that experience help in a moment like this?
I can’t really tell you today. We will see tomorrow if it will make a difference. Let’s see. I cannot say because of course even if a player hasn’t played a semi-final yet, he is still able to win. If he is at this level of the competition, it means he has good skills and a good game to win. Everything is possible. We cannot only say Daniil has more experience. Maybe, but we of course cannot just wait for this.
Daniil has only played Felix once in a match and it was more than three years ago. How much time have they spent practising together?
Yes, we do it sometimes, so they know each other. They appreciate each other. We know it will be a really tough match, because we saw Felix during the tournament play an amazing game. He’s a very dangerous player.
As you get deeper into a big tournament like this there is more pressure, so what do you guys do to avoid that?
For us it’s very, very easy because Daniil is a very simple person. The pressure is not on his shoulders, that’s my feeling. Because he’s like this, I have no pressure at all as well. I live my normal life. I like to practise, I like to box and I continue to do this during the tournament, so it doesn’t change anything. I just do this outside with a boxing coach because with the virus, I don’t want to be in any gym.
We live a normal life on the Tour and during the tournament. Even with big matches, it doesn’t change anything. We stay the same.
Read More Coaches’ Corner Interviews
As you mentioned, Daniil is a simple guy who never seems to let the pressure or a moment get to him too much. How impressive is that?
It’s very important to go on court very light on these things that can make you more tight or not [able to use] 100 per cent of your resources. These things are very important. In the past, many players have lost matches because of pressure or they didn’t know how to deal with it. Everybody is different with this pressure.
Someone asked Daniil if he was thinking about Novak and he was very clear he isn’t because he has to focus on what he is doing. How important is it that he is not thinking too far ahead?
When you focus on yourself, it makes you stay in the present and focus on what you have to do. It makes you better than having part of your brain, part of your mind thinking of something useless. I think Daniil has a good mindset to keep focussing on what he has to do only.
Even if you watch Novak and the other matches, he doesn’t think or compare to him. He will only have to do it if he wins and Novak also wins. That’s why it’s useless to think about Novak now or before [they play].
