We have been treated to a jam-packed sporting feast this summer but Emma Raducanu’s astonishing triumph at the US Open will be the outstanding highlight.
Life will never be the same for the 18-year-old from Kent after her 6-4, 6-3 victory against Canadian Leylah Fernandez at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Raducanu displayed a maturity beyond her years as she closed out the win to become Britain’s first Grand Slam champion since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977.
The fact Raducanu had to make it through qualifying to earn a place in the competition and breezed to her maiden slam without dropping a single set makes the feat all the more astounding.
It is clear she possesses the talent to take her to the top of women’s tennis but there is always an uncertainty over how a sportsperson will react to the pressure of a major final, especially one so young.
Raducanu, however, looked at home on the main stage and brushed aside a tricky opponent, showing mental toughness to serve out for victory after suffering a nasty fall.
The medical stoppage came at a key point in the match with Fernandez on break point and the Canadian made her feelings known about the delay.
It would have been easy for Raducanu’s rhythm or focus to be distracted by the incident but she proved she has far greater strength of character than some, including John McEnroe, had questioned when she exited Wimbledon.
This really was a fairy tale in New York but it is only the start of Raducanu’s journey and hopefully she has a fantastic support network around her as she comes to terms with the magnitude of what she has achieved – as well as having an additional £1.8million on her bank balance.
We always have to be careful when building up young sportsmen and women.
Too often we have seen youngsters dubbed the next big thing fade into obscurity as quickly as they arrived.
But it feels very different with Raducanu.
It reminded me of when Tiger Woods stormed to a 12-shot success at the 1997 Masters and, to a lesser extent, when Wayne Rooney scored as a 16-year-old for Everton against Arsenal and we were all told to ‘remember the name’.
Sometimes youngsters come along and you know they are destined to be at the top of the game for years to come.
Raducanu’s success is a massive and much-needed shot in the arm for British tennis, which looked at a crossroads with Andy Murray now in the later stages of his career.
It will also be huge for women’s sport as girls across the country have a new sporting idol to look up to and one that will likely encourage many to pick up a racquet who otherwise wouldn’t have bothered.
This could be an exciting era for women’s tennis with Raducanu, Fernandez and the highly-rated American Coco Gauff all in their teens, while Naomi Osaka is only 23.
Raducanu will have an added edge to her play now that she knows she can win one of the big events and a second slam is always easier to win than the first.
The other big winners on Saturday night were Amazon Prime and Channel 4 after their deal to allow the final to be shown on terrestrial television on Saturday evening.
It was a terrific advert for women’s tennis and Amazon will hope the meteoric rise of Raducanu will help get more eyes on their tennis coverage.
