THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 30, 2021

Emma Raducanu

Press Conference

E. RADUCANU/V. Diatchenko

7-6, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How does it feel to win your first Grand Slam match and also to be the last female Brit standing at Wimbledon this year?

EMMA RADUCANU: Thank you very much. I still can't quite believe it. I had to actually double-check the score at the end of the match. I thought it was a first serve maybe.

I'm just really pleased to be into the second round. I feel like I'm playing and everything is just a bonus to me right now. I'm just really enjoying myself, just taking the moment in really.

The support I had today was quite incredible. They definitely pushed me through some of the tough moments.

Q. The first set was a real battle, 83 minutes. How did you turn it around?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think at the beginning there was definitely an element of nerves. In my first service game, I'm pretty sure I hit four double-faults. I'm just happy to have settled into the match. In the second set I felt like I was playing [audio interruption].

Yeah, it was just a nervy experience in the beginning, playing your first main draw Grand Slam match at Wimbledon. A lot of people there, you didn't want to let them down.

I'm just really happy that I managed to find a way through the tough moments, then I settled in and started playing more relaxed.

Q. I know you have some connection with Romania. What kind of connection do you have with Romania, what bonds with this country? Have you ever visited this country?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, of course. My dad is actually Romanian from Bucharest. My grandma, Mamiya, still lives in central Bucharest. I go back a couple times a year, stay with her, see her.

It's really nice. I love the food, to be honest. I mean, the food is unbelievable. And my grandma's cooking is also something special. I do have ties to Bucharest.

Q. You talked about the atmosphere out there. You played juniors at Wimbledon. Did it feel different this time? What difference does it make playing in front of a big crowd like that?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think juniors definitely had a different feel to it than this one. I feel this one, the prestige definitely sunk in. In my head, I think no matter how much I prepared myself for the moment and the occasion to try to prepare myself to not be nervous, I mean, it's always going to happen especially at the beginning.

I think also juniors happened three years ago, so it's been quite a while since I was out there on Court 18. I had a big win against Joanna Garland in the third round of juniors.

I definitely have special memories on that court. So last night when I saw the order of play, I was actually really happy to be back on Court 18.

Q. You haven't played a lot, have you? Have you had injury issues? You stayed at school, didn't you? Is it just because of COVID and the difficulty of traveling?

EMMA RADUCANU: It's definitely a combination. I think the difficulties with traveling with COVID and there weren't any ITF tournaments or international tournaments in this country that were easy to access. To go abroad, we weren't quite comfortable with the COVID situation.

Also in the meantime I had my final A level examinations in April, so I was actually sitting for an exam two months ago. So now to be here now at Wimbledon is unbelievable, it's surreal.

Q. How easy or hard did you find it to get to grips with your opponent? It seemed like you got your tactics right quite fast, especially with her sort of having things like double-handed forehands, and the bagel in the second set. How did you find that?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, she is definitely a very tricky opponent. I know she took out Maria Sharapova here first round a couple years ago. Going into the match I knew she was going to be a difficult player to play against. She hits the ball very, very flat. Her strokes definitely suit this grass court surface.

I just knew that I was going to really have to get low and try and get the ball out of her strike zone because when she had it near her, you gave her a little bit of angle, she would just take it on. So I tried to really either make her move a bit or sometimes jam her, and it worked.

Q. Which A levels did you do?

EMMA RADUCANU: I did maths and economics at Newstead Wood. That school has been so supportive. They let me travel whenever I needed to or train. Yeah, I've been with them for seven years now. To leave them, yeah, I mean, it's a bit sad. Next chapter.

Q. Maths and economics. I'm presuming you're fully pursuing a tennis career, but you might have something to fall back on if it doesn't work out or post your career?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yes, I'm definitely trying to pursue a tennis career. I think staying in school has definitely helped me in terms of having another set of friends I can come into. It's just a completely different -- it was a different way of life. It's a bit of an escape as well for me. To have another thing going alongside my tennis, it's kept my mind occupied.

When you train, you only train a certain amount of hours a day. You've still got a lot of time to fill. It's definitely helped keeping my mind active. I find it's actually helped me with my on-court career as well in the way that I can absorb a lot of information. I feel that on court I'm more tactically astute than some others.

Q. You said in an interview that you admire Simona Halep. What else do you admire about Simona Halep, the former Wimbledon champion?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I definitely admire her movement and also just the way that she fights and competes. I think that today in some of the situations in the first set, they were very tight. I was just thinking to compete like some of the players like Halep. She won Wimbledon and she said herself that she wasn't expecting to.

It shows if you put your mind and heart to it, you can really achieve anything. Yeah, I would definitely admire her fight as well about her.