‘I come back with such a different outlook, promise’

Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu finished up practice at the US Open on Friday by hitting with a young girl she asked fans on social media to help her find after they couldn't connect a day earlier. Raducanu is back at the tournament she surprisingly won three years ago, and she shrugs off questions about whether she's played enough matches to be ready for it.

Her 2021 US Open title is still Raducanu's only one on the WTA Tour, and she didn't even play in Flushing Meadows last year because of injuries. The 21-year-old from England has played fewer than 30 matches this year and passed up chances to be more active, but doesn't second-guess her preparation for the final Grand Slam of the season.

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"Even when I won the US Open, I only played a few tournaments that year," Raducanu said. "Yes, they were closer together, but I'm not in any big rush to play those. I think I'd rather target tournaments and play the tournaments that I'm entered in."

After losing in the fourth round of Wimbledon in July in her home Grand Slam, Raducanu chose not to play in the Olympics and made just one appearance on the North American hard-court swing, losing in the third round in Washington.

Raducanu knows that critics of her career choices question whether she's ready to win the US Open. Seeing her name on the trophy and her picture among the champions on the grounds reminds her she has - and can again.

"I think that's such an epic achievement and these two weeks I completed it," she said. "So for me coming back here now, I come back with such a different outlook and just joy and promise, and it inspires me to want to do more."

She decided not to play in Canada - where she was born and holds a passport - and then opted to return to Britain to practice, rather than attempt to play any more tournaments ahead of her return to New York, where she will face 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the first round.

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