17-year-old Emma Raducanu's reply to which tennis player inspired her before she became famous
An interview in 2020 with a 17-year old Emma Raducanu recently came to light on the latest episode of the Love Tennis Podcast. In it, the World No. 19 talked about how she watches different tennis players to create her own playing style.
The biggest tennis story of 2021 was Emma Raducanu's historic triumph at the US Open. The 19-year-old became the first qualifier ever to win the tournament, and won all 10 of her matches without dropping a single set.
However, at the time of the interview, Raducanu was a fringe player for Great Britain's Fed Cup team (now called the Billie Jean King Cup). She was interviewed before their Fed Cup qualifying match against Slovakia, a tie in which Raducanu did not feature.
Have you listened to our latest podcast yet?
It features:
- @BellshawGeorge interviewing Emma Raducanu back in early 2020 (long before she was that famous)
- a tactical breakdown of Naomi Osaka's chances on the Australian swing
- some out-there predictions for 2022
Raducanu remarked that there wasn't one particular player after whom she modeled her game. Instead, she revealed that she watched a lot of different players. That way, she could pick out the attributes that most appealed to her and create an amalgamation that was unique to her.
"I haven't had one particular player. I look at a wide variety of different players," Raducanu said. "I feel like I can take a little bit of inspiration from many players to create my own kind of player."
When asked to describe her own playing style, the 17-year-old said she was as an aggressive baseline player who liked to serve big. She also pointed out that she was working on her net play so she could finish points sooner.
"I like to be aggressive. I like to take control of the point. I'd say I am a fairly big hitter and I like to dominate with my serve," Raducanu said. "I'm pretty big from the baseline. But I'm working on coming in to the net and finishing the point off."
"At the beginning, I hated tennis but I gradually fell in love with winning" - Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu also spoke about her first exposure to tennis. She revealed that her earliest memory of the sport was tagging along with her parents to their recreational tennis lessons every week.
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The teenager added that she was not very enthusiastic about tennis as a child. But gradually, she came to enjoy the aspects of winning and having her hard work rewarded, which culminated in her love for the game.
"Honestly, at the beginning, I didn't like it at all. I hated tennis. But I gradually fell in love with winning and working hard," Raducanu said. "Seeing results pay off after you put in so much work, it is really rewarding to see."