Emma Raducanu of Great Britain made history on Saturday at the US Open, where the 18-year-old became the first qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title. USOpen.org looks at the best quotes from Day 13 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
“It’s an absolute dream.” — Emma Raducanu
“The biggest triumph for me is how I managed to not think of absolutely anything else except for my game plan, what I’m going to execute. I didn’t really think about anything other than what was going on on the tennis court. All the outside stuff, I just completely zoned in and focused on my craft.” — Emma Raducanu
“The most important lesson that I’ve learned is how to recuperate after so many great wins in a row. After every win, I was so happy, so excited. I just wanted to go back on court and play again. I was very lucky to have a great team behind me, telling me to calm down, enjoy this win now, then the very next day let’s get back to work. I’m glad that I had that opportunity to learn, to actually know how to organize myself in these moments.” — 2021 US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez
“It’s great for British tennis having more people doing well.” — Great Britain’s Joe Salisbury, who captured the men’s doubles (with Rajeev Ram) and mixed doubles (with Desirae Krawczyk) titles
“Just to think about that, it’s crazy to me.” — Desirae Krawczyk, who put her name next to the likes of Martina Hingis, Martina Navratilova, Leander Paes and Margaret Court by winning her third Grand Slam mixed doubles title of the year
“It’s been a long journey. We’ve had our ups and our downs, but we’ve always come back together stronger, always tried to figure out a way to improve as a team.” — Alfie Hewett, who with Gordon Reid completed the calendar-year Grand Slam in wheelchair men’s doubles
“I just wanted to let them know that they’re so strong, they’re so resilient. They’re just incredible. Just having them here happy, lively, just going back to the way they were, having my back during these tough moments, has made me stronger and has made me believe in myself a lot more.” — Leylah Fernandez, who addressed the 20th anniversary of 9/11 after the women's singles final
