At the end, Emma Raducanu held her head in disbelief and sunk to her knees, as well she might have. Four weeks ago, the British teenager had never played a professional match at the top level. Now, after a 6-3, 7-5 victory over the experienced Romanian Sorana Cirstea, a player ranked almost 300 places above her, she is the youngest British woman to reach the second week of Wimbledon for more than 60 years.
“An earthquake in tennis”, former teenage world No 1 Tracy Austin called it, and she should know. From Steffi Graf to Maria Sharapova, Wimbledon has witnessed the breakthrough of many a young star. Raducanu will have to do an awful lot more before her name can be spoken in the same breath as such luminaries, but her potential seems boundless.
The 18-year-old has described herself as “scrappy and gritty”, but she is so much more than that. Her athleticism is outstanding, her composure extraordinary. Her two-handed backhand is the standout weapon in an armoury that contains no obvious weaknesses. A gifted student awaiting A-level results in maths and economics, Raducanu has an analytical mind which she employs to telling effect on court. Against Cirstea, she read the changing rhythms of the match with the meticulous attention to detail of a lawyer, the profession she has said she might pursue were she not a tennis player. The bar will have to wait, though. Already Raducanu has the look of a player born for the big stage.
“I knew Sorana was a very tough opponent,” said Raducanu of Cirstea, the world No 45. “Playing on Court One at Wimbledon is what you dream of, not many people get the opportunity. So I was like, ‘Wow, this is such an experience and such an opportunity.’ I just thought, ‘You know what, I’m just going to go out there and have fun.’ And I really think I did. Some of the points, I’d never played such good tennis. I was just having so much fun.”
It showed. In an age of po-faced professionalism, a smile is never far from Raducanu’s face. Her attitude is infectious. The sheer joy with which she greeted the more outrageous of her 30 winners was boisterously mirrored in the stands. But for the occasional reminders of how new it all is to her, it would have been easy to forget that she had never before competed on such a stage. The pre-match coin toss, normally a perfunctory affair, was interrupted by a polite inquiry from Raducanu as to the whereabouts of her team in the stands. Later, when the ball reared up off the service line to produce an ace, she raised a respectful hand in apology. Yet Raducanu is no mere ingenue. If she was able to enjoy her showcourt debut, it was because she had mentally prepared for the challenge, visiting the scene of combat in advance.
“Yesterday I came out here and I sat courtside for about five minutes,” said Raducanu. “They let me get a feel for the court, which I think was very valuable because when I went out there today, I sort of knew what to expect a little bit. I thought, ‘If I’m not going to enjoy Court One at Wimbledon, home crowd, like, what are you going to enjoy?’ This is literally the top of tennis. I was just so excited. When I heard the crowd roar for the first time, I was like, ‘Wow, they’re so behind me.’ I was just feeding off their energy.”
Raducanu was in need of that driving force when she fell behind to an early break, but from 3-1 down she reeled off eight successive games. With Raducanu a set and a break to the good, the match was in danger of turning into a rout, especially when the teenager produced two extraordinary forehand winners on the run to bring up 0-40 on the Cirstea serve. Her reaction to the second, a mixture of joyous astonishment and disbelieving laughter, mirrored that of the enraptured home support. “I couldn’t believe some of [those shots] myself, but I think playing on Court One you’re definitely inspired, so you do things you normally don’t do,” said Raducanu.
Yet Cirstea, 31, is a seasoned and wily campaigner, and in her 12th Wimbledon campaign she was evidently disinclined to get steamrollered by a teenager. The Romanian, who was herself bidding to reach the second week for the first time, extricated herself from her predicament with some fine serving. When Raducanu double-faulted on break point a game later, they were back on level terms. Now Raducanu once again displayed the maturity and composure that had carried her past former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the previous round. With Cirstea serving at 3-4, the youngster missed five opportunities to break in a game that swung back and forth for a quarter of an hour before Raducanu finally slugged a forehand long. Now Cirstea looked more like the player who won her first title in 12 years at the Istanbul Cup in April, the player who had beaten former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka for the first time in her career in the previous round.
“I really respect the way that she competes and fights, and also her game,” said Raducanu. “It was very difficult for me. Three love, 40-0, and then she came back and she came out with big serves on the big points and hitting the ball very close to the lines, so it was difficult for me. I didn’t think I did much wrong to be honest. You don’t get to where she is in her career without producing, without fighting and pushing through those tough moments.”
As the match drew towards its astounding conclusion, each game seemed to ask a new question of Raducanu. How would she react to the disappointment of losing so many chances to seal a break that would have left her serving for the match? How would she deal with the pressure of moving within a game of the fourth round? How would she respond when Cirstea, serving to stay in the contest at 5-6, saved two match points? The teenager’s answer was the same each time: by staying in the present, by playing one point at a time, by refusing to dwell on lost chances or future possibilities. It is the easiest thing in the world to say, the hardest to do. To Raducanu, it seems like second nature. With Cirstea serving to stay in the match at 5-6, Raducanu demonstrated her elasticity by recovering from a mid-rally slip to roll a stunning crosscourt pass beyond the Romanian. She looked more surprised to see her racket slip from her hand as she raised her arms in celebration than by the sight of the ball whistling past Cirstea’s ankles. There was to be no way back for the Romanian.
“Who’d have thought?” said Raducanu at courtside afterwards. “It’s funny, because at the beginning when I was packing to come into the bubble, my parents were like, ‘Aren’t you packing too many sets of match kit?’ I think I’m going to have to do some laundry tonight.”
It is her next opponent, Ajla Tomljanovic, who might be more worried about being taken to the cleaners. Tomljanovic, however, had more immediate concerns following her 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Jelena Ostapenko. The 75th-ranked Australian became embroiled in a furious altercation with Ostapenko after the match, accusing the Eastbourne champion of feigning injury as she prepared to serve for a 5-0 lead in the final set. “There was nothing wrong with her the whole match, so why did she call it then?” said Tomljanovic.”I have been in situations where players use that medical timeout to get their opponent off, usually when they are losing badly. I know when someone is injured and when someone is not. She can say she was injured. I don’t think she was.”
Ostapenko branded her opponent disrespectful. “She cannot say anything because she knows zero about my injury,” she said. “I thought it was very, very disrespectful from her side, because every single player who is playing tennis or any other sports can get injured. I had a problem with my abdominal already in the second set. I pulled it, and I couldn’t really serve well because I had pain when I was serving. My level today was not good after the first set, because if I played at at least 50%, I would have beaten her.”
Ashleigh Barty, the top seed, beat Katerina Siniakova 6-3, 7-5 to equal her best performance at the All England Club, while former champion Angelique Kerber stormed back after conceding the opening set to defeat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 2-6, 6-0, 6-1.