US OPEN

August 24, 2025

Emma Raducanu

Press Conference

E. RADUCANU/E. Shibahara

6-1, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Emma, congratulations. If you would, your thoughts on your performance today.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I'm very pleased to have come through that match. First rounds are very challenging always, the nerves, and I think I had a little bit of the added I wanted to win a match here really bad.

I'm really pleased to have got through that. Playing Ena, she qualified, so she's played three matches in the conditions and would have been used to it.

So I'm very happy with how I dealt with that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You mentioned there and in your on-court interview about the first win here since winning the title. Has that been playing on your mind a little bit?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, it has been on my mind. It's been four years, and it's a very special tournament for me. I did feel different coming into it this year. I felt like I was doing the right things day to day, but still, it's in the back of your head. So I'm just very pleased to have overcome that.

Q. Tell us about your recommendation to go to the Frick Collection. How did that conversation come up with your nana? And when do you hope to go?

EMMA RADUCANU: My nana, it's not my like actual grandma, but kind of I'm like her adopted granddaughter, I'd like to think, she's from New York and she told me to go to the Frick Collection. I have obviously been into my art a lot more recently, and it's reopened after I think four or five years of being under construction. That will be really exciting.

Q. You had your big breakout in New York. How do you find the atmosphere here in terms of the interplay between the players and the crowds? Is it different than you find elsewhere?

EMMA RADUCANU: I love the crowd. I really liked playing on Armstrong today. The crowd were great.

I think New York is always different. You know, it's a bit challenging in terms of there is always so much going on, whether you're in the city, at the hotel, or on the way to the courts. There is traffic, it takes an hour, but it's something that we all kind of go through.

I personally love the buzz. I love how intimate the crowd get. It's very different to Wimbledon. But I think that's what makes each slam so unique and so special, that there is a bit of a different feeling wherever you go.

Q. Does it free you up to be more expressive yourself?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think you can definitely go for it, get the crowd involved. You see some of the American guys, they do it so well. I think me, today I was very calm on the court, but I think the crowd love it if you're getting pumped and celebrating a lot.

Q. I'm doing on a piece what it means for players to get their first win in New York. Four years ago, your first-round win, it's overshadowed by the six that come after that. But can you take yourself back to that moment, beating Stefanie? I think it was on the Grandstand. There was a lot of joy on your face when you got that win. Do you remember your mindset at the time and what it meant to you?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I played her on 17, actually. I played Stefanie Vogele. I remember closing that match out was really difficult. I had a really long game to close the match out, serving for it, and some really cool kind of hot shots. I remember I got broken early in both sets and then broke back.

But so many different emotions. I was playing very well, I felt, the whole summer that year. But I was just nervous and just so, so happy to get my first win and follow up a good Wimbledon in 2021.

Yeah, a lot of good memories from that match.

Q. How differently do you prepare for opponents now in terms of scouting, if you kind of check film? How much information do you want from your coach? Do you want data or do you want it simplified?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I like watching the opponents. I think I'm probably watching less now. I just have a good awareness of the opponent, what they like to do, and a lot more centered around me.

I think I'm trusting myself, trusting my own abilities a lot more and I know what I need to do on the court as well, not necessarily searching so much to the box, asking for what to do, only if I feel like I really need it.

I think that's helped me keep myself in the match, my head in the match, rather than looking up, getting distracted, and kind of searching for something.

Q. Sort of connected to that, Francisco seems to speak a lot over there during the match. Not necessarily tactics maybe, but a constant kind of patter. How much of that do you hear? How much do you take in? Is it part of the scenery when you're out there?

EMMA RADUCANU: I really don't hear much at all. It's so difficult. And even if you're on the court and looking, you don't really hear it unless you're kind of lip-reading.

It's really difficult unless you're at the box and you're speaking very close and looking, it's so hard to hear. I probably don't take in much of what he's saying, but I think, you know, when I feel like I really need it, then I will go and look and will understand.

But for the most part, especially when you're in a match like today, I felt like I had most things kind of under control on my side of the court. I just want to stay in my zone and keep going with what I'm doing.

Q. You were asked about your first round, and I was curious about the round before that when you played quallies where there were no fans on the grounds. What do you remember about that week? It must have been spooky to be in a Grand Slam with no fans. And then you're one of the few people to experience this site with no one and sort of with everyone.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, it was a strange feeling, I guess, but to be honest, at the time -- looking back it was strange, but at the time it felt normal. I hadn't really played any big matches. I was kind of playing a Brit tour a couple months before. There is not many spectators there in the Connaught Club.

I was kind of used to it. I just remember there was this one security guard who is still here working. Whenever I see him, he was there from the very, very start of the first round of quallies, second round, and all the way through to the final, and to see him around is really special. Yeah, we have a good bond, good relationship off the court.

Q. Your journey when you were the champion here until now, what do you consider the biggest milestones that have you feeling the way you do right now?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think the biggest milestones are I put a lot of trust in what I'm doing with Francisco on the practice court. I think we're just working really well, doing the right stuff on the practice court, and I just feel like I'm improving.

To take confidence from what I'm doing behind the scenes and not just I have confidence because I have won these matches on the tour. You know, I'm doing a lot day to day. It's going well, and I'm enjoying it.

You know, I'm enjoying getting better, and the process of feeling like at the end of the day I'm satisfied I got a little bit better, and just repeating it. I think that's probably the biggest success and reason to why I feel the way I do right now.

Q. How would you describe your emotions going into today, whether it was last night, were there nerves, anything like that? And with the first one under your belt, how are you looking at the rest of this tournament?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I was nervous this morning after practice. There's not much time playing first on. You're kind of rushing to do things. I was nervous in practice.

Afterwards, after I came out of the shower, I felt like I kind of just got into the zone, got my match kit on, and that, for me, is a shift of, okay, you're going to get ready, lock in now.

Then I relaxed. Going onto Armstrong, I think getting that first game was really important. I think I started off really well, and that helped relax me a lot. Especially serving first game, that was a confidence start, and then I felt like I could keep going.

Q. You mentioned before about how the US Open and New York is quite chaotic in lots of ways. Do you think that has contributed to the fact that this Grand Slam on the men's and women's side has had quite a lot of surprising results over the last few years?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think it's different. I think for the women's side, we play with the different balls, lighter through the air, a lot faster. I personally really enjoy it. I think it gives me a bit extra. But I know some players don't always.

I think the last slam of the year, everyone wants to do well, maybe added pressure. But I think also just the depth of the women's game in particular, there is a lot of fluctuating results throughout the whole season, and players pick up form at different parts of the season, so I think it's just an accumulation of all of those reasons.