WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN

August 18, 2022

Emma Raducanu

Press Conference

J. PEGULA/E. Raducanu

7-5, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Not the result you maybe wanted today, but your performance here in Cincinnati has been amazing. Can you talk us through your overall thoughts on the tournament.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think this week was a great step for me. In the past year I think it's probably like the first tournament or like one of the few tournaments that I have actually, you know, like started going for my shots more.

I think that recently I was kind of playing and hoping they would miss, and I think I was pushing the ball around a lot more, rather than this week I kind of just was like, look, I'm just going to try, I don't care if I make errors, like it's fine, but I'm just going to like overhit if anything.

I'm pretty proud of how I did this week, and I think it's a great step to move forward.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Looked like a high quality match today. How did you feel about your performance against such a top player?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, it came down to a few points and a few things. I think that Jessica, she's playing great tennis right now. I think she's in really good form.

Yeah, I think she's got like, I don't know, eight, nine years on me, so I think if I keep working and it's great to have the exposure to these sort of opponents who have been out there for so long and doing these things day in and day out and see how they play, see how fast their ball comes.

It's going to take some adjusting to, I think, just the level. Yeah, it has been great. I feel like every match is just a really good practice. Like you don't get this sort of high quality practice anywhere.

Q. Three matches obviously here in Cincinnati. You know, there is like general fitness and then there is match fitness and then there is tournament fitness, being able to physically turn around. Being able to do that through three matches here, did it help push you ahead in that path of kind of being as tournament fit as possible?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think it does, because, you know, to play back-to-back days between the first and second, it was pretty quick turnover. I think that it's difficult as well to stay like mentally focused, as well, to keep mentally just going back out there and backing the performances up.

I think that's something, to be honest, I don't think I have experienced much of, because I haven't had many consistent weeks of a lot of matches in a row. It was great to get three matches this week, and in D.C., as well.

I think that I am getting there. Today against Jessica, like, we had some really, you know, long rallies. Her groundstrokes are really good. For me, I think it was like staying low for that long and doing it over and over again and having to work like so hard for every point and just being able to kind of repeat that point after point, it was pretty difficult.

Q. What made you decide that you just wanted to kind of attack, as you said, and just going for your shots? What was kind of the trigger to that?

EMMA RADUCANU: I kind of just got tired of like pushing the ball around and having people hit the ball and they'd run me around.

I was just, like, Look, I have tried that for pretty much a year. I'm just to like do something. If I'm going to lose, I'm probably going to lose anyway pushing the ball around at this level. It just doesn't work. I'm just going to do it and, yeah, give this tournament a swing. And it worked.

I think that it is definitely like relieving, because I feel like I'm swinging with the same sort of freedom as I probably had, like, more similar to last year.

So it feels really good. I think that I can really take it as a positive week, and I actually feel like I'm heading in a good direction again.

Q. Do you feel like you are still kind of learning like what kind of player you want to be? You have all the raw skills to kind of be whichever one you want, effectively having the athleticism for covering the court but also the pop on the serve and forehand and stuff. Is it still a search and let's see kind of how I want to play?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, it is, because I think I do each of the aspects pretty well like separated. But I just need to kind of put them together and, like, for example, some weeks I have served really, really well, like I think over the clay in the beginning I served really well.

Then like some weeks, I don't know, it would just disappear and then I will become more of a defensive player. Then I will become more of an attacking player. So I think I am still trying to find the balance, as you say, and just trying to package my game together more so.

But like I said, every match at this level kind of I figure out what works, what doesn't work, how I should be hitting the ball. I feel more confident in what I'm doing now.

Q. Obviously US Open is next. After kind of the past year and seeing how good the level is and what it takes to be successful consistently, how do you actually look back on what you achieved back then, given how inexperienced you were and how little you probably knew about beating top players?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think that at the US Open I played -- yeah, I played really good tennis. You know, I was swinging with, like I said, the freedom that I started to tap into this week. And I did really enjoy this week, like if I made an error, it was almost like a positive thing, like, good, you are kind of going for it. It paid off a lot more than it didn't.

But I also think, like honestly, that my opponents have been playing a lot better this year, and I'm rewatching my matches from the US Open, and there are certain moments where I was given a lot of gifts or maybe they got a bit tight, or, you know, something like that.

So I think I have improved actually as a player. I just, like as I'm finding this sort of freedom in my swinging, yeah, I think that I achieved something great, of course, but it was, like, I was playing completely free and I'm starting to do that again.

Q. What are you most looking forward to about going to New York?

EMMA RADUCANU: Well, I just love New York as a city, so I can't wait to go back (smiling).

I really have been craving a bagel for the last year (smiling). So I can't wait to go back to New York. It's one of my favorite cities out there.

Yeah, I'm just really looking forward to go see the city, of course. But then, yeah, of course the tournament, I've got special memories there from the juniors, I made quarters, and then last year obviously that happened.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.