"Yesterday's menu; special of the day: exit strategy" - Emma Raducanu shares snippets from latest practice session, including showing off her gate-climbing skills
Emma Raducanu is training hard in the build-up to her US Open title defense with some intense practice sessions at the IMG Academy in Florida. At the same time, she is also having a bit of fun during and in between training, looking at the latest visuals from her time in Florida.
Raducanu has kept her fans and followers up to date with her activities since her second-round exit at Wimbledon, her home Grand Slam tournament. After enjoying some time off to get the shock loss against Caroline Garcia out of her mind, she made the trip to the United States earlier this week.
In a post she added to Instagram on Friday, Emma Raducanu shared some snippets to update her fans on how her training was coming along. While the 19-year-old can also be seen working hard on her fitness off the court with some weight training, the highlight of the post was a clip of Raducanu having fun climbing a gate at the academy.
The British player is set to have a busy tournament schedule next month onwards, all the way up to the US Open at the end of August. She will begin her American swing at the Citi Open in Washington DC, with the WTA250 event set to begin on August 1.
Raducanu will then travel to Toronto for the National Bank Open and return to the United States for the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati soon after, both of which are WTA 1000 events. After a week's break, the World No. 10 will begin her US Open title defense.
Earlier this week, Emma Raducanu had more to smile about after winning the 2022 ESPY award for the best female tennis player during the period of consideration. She pipped the likes of Ashleigh Barty, World No.1 Iga Swiatek, and 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez to win the award. The honor further highlighted Raducanu as a fan favorite in the sport, as fan votes play a big role in crowning ESPY award winners.
How Emma Raducanu stunned the tennis world to win the US Open as a qualifier
Emma Raducanu produced one of the greatest runs from a player at a Grand Slam tournament at last year's US Open. She entered the tournament ranked No. 150, and as the 31st seed in the qualifying draw. The British player won her three qualifying matches without dropping a set, but still faced a tall order in the main draw.
She then defeated the likes of Sara Sorribes Tormo and Shelby Rogers on her way to the quarterfinals, keeping up her record of winning in straight sets. Then 18 years old, Raducanu stunned Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. The Brit then faced a big challenger in Maria Sakkari in the semifinals, but won comfortably once again with a 6-1, 6-4 scoreline.
In the final, Raducanu faced an in-form youngster and another surprise finalist, Leylah Fernandez. The Canadian also proved to be no match for Raducanu, who won the match 6-4, 6-3 to become the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles tournament in the history of tennis.
An ace to win it. 18 year old Emma Raducanu wins the 2021 US Open without dropping a single set in qualifying or the entire tournament #USOpen https://t.co/hNYFkK3oHy