History was created at the US Open 2021. Tennis player from England, Emma Raducanu, managed to bring home the prestigious championship trophy after defeating Leylah Fernandez in the final round.

Raducanu's struggle at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Sunday (12/9/2021) lasted 51 minutes. The trophy was brought home by Raducanu in straight sets 6-4 and 6-3.

This year the US Open brought together two young players and became a dark horse in the tournament in the final. The 18-year-old Raducanu and Fernandez, two months older, knocked out the more seeded players to make history.

Raducanu's struggle is extraordinary and like a fairy tale. This is the second tennis grand slam tournament she has participated in, and she managed to wipe out the 20 sets she has played from qualifying to the main round.

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks to her persistence, Raducanu is now the first British player to win a grand slam since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977. Raducanu is also the youngest player to win a grand slam after Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004.

Another record that Raducanu has broken is that no player has crawled out of the qualifiers who can then immediately become a grand slam champion. It's the first time.

"I've always dreamed of winning a grand slam. You say, 'I want to win a grand slam', but to have the belief I did, and actually executing, winning a grand slam, I can't believe it. I first started when I was a little girl but I think the biggest thing that you have visions of, for me it was just winning, the winning moment, and going to celebrate with your team in the box. That's been playing in my head a couple of nights. I've fallen asleep to that," said Raducanu after the game.

Raducanu had stolen the world's attention when competing at Wimbledon 2021. At that time, she reached the last four before resigning due to breathing difficulties.

This failure has motivated her to continue practicing and improve her breathing. Raducanu trains hard physically to be able to compete at the world level. Even though she failed at Wimbledon at that time, she was not satisfied with what she got.

 

 

 

 

 

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"I'm still hungry for achievement. I train hard on the grass and rarely rest. The experience from tournament to tournament builds my confidence and my game especially when I hit the ball. All the results are present today. I don't think much about the final result but this could be the result of my hard work over the last five weeks," said Raducanu.

The tennis player was born in Canada to a Romanian father. She and her Chinese Canadian mother moved to England when she was two years old. When she won a Grand Slam, her parents watched her on television because of the difficulty of traveling during the pandemic.

The final between Raducanu and Fernandez came after the pair beat seeds such as Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber. In addition, there are also Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka, who are seeded and included in the five seeded tennis players.

Raducanu received a prize of €1.8 million, a massive prize from a player with an average career income of €220,000. In addition, Raducanu will get 2,000 points in the world tennis rankings, which makes his position jump from 150 to 23.

"I don't feel too much pressure. I am currently just an 18 year old girl. I just want to swing a racket at what comes my way. That's what I do for the various matches here. It earned me this trophy, so I don't think it will change the way I do things," said Raducanu.

 

 

 

 

 

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Leylah Fernandez The Future of Tennis

Besides Raducanu, the story of the US Open final also centers on Fernandez. This Canadian tennis player had long stolen the attention of tennis fans, including at the US Open, when she got rid of big names.

Fernandez comes from a family of athletes. Her father, Jorge, was from Ecuador and was a former football player. After retiring, Jorge became a football coach and then a tennis coach.

Fernandez's mother is a Canadian citizen of Filipino descent. Her sister, Bianca Jolie, also chose a path as a tennis athlete.

On 25 January 2019, Fernandez reached the Australian Open women's singles final but lost to Clara Tauson. On 8 June 2019, Fernandez defeated Emma Navarro in the French Open final, making her the first Canadian woman to win a junior Grand Slam title since Eugenie Bouchard at Wimbledon 2012.

Her streak continued on 21 July 2019, where Fernandez won her first professional singles tennis title. She defeated Canadian Carson Branstine in the final of the Gatineau Challenger.

Her Grand Slam debut came at the 2020 Australian Open. She qualified but lost in the first round to Lauren Davis. In 2021, she made a surprise at the US Open. Fernandez beat Naomi Osaka in the third round with 5-7, 7-6, 6-4.

Regarding her defeat with Raducanu, Fernandez admitted that she made several mistakes which her opponent took advantage of to gain points. She admits it was a tough match for both of them and hopes to return next year.

"I will remember this defeat for a long time. I will use this to motivate me to be better in training and in other matches. But I'm happy with the result I got and the way I did it on the pitch, mentally and psychologically. Hopefully next year I can achieve better results," said Fernandez.