On Saturday, Emma Raducanu won the US Open women’s singles championship. Emma is only 18 years old!! Emma was born in Canada, and her family moved to the UK when she was only two years old. Her mother is Chinese and her father is Romanian. The final was great, and it was the first all-teenage final since 1999, when Serena Williams beat Martina Hingis. I was rooting more for Canadian sweetheart Leylah Fernandez, who battled through three top-ten opponents (all in brutal three-setters) to make it to the final. But I was happy for Emma and she’s obviously a very, very good player and she’s already a huge star. She’s also the first qualifier to win a Slam title and the first British woman to win a major title since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977 (Andy Murray broke the drought for British men when he won his first major title at the US Open in 2012).
Anyway, as for the whole “Emma is already a star” thing – Britain was going crazy for Emma throughout the tournament, and Amazon Prime (which has the rights to the US Open) even negotiated a thing where a British channel aired the final live on TV, free for everyone. Emma also got congratulated by the Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall AND Queen Elizabeth II.
A message to surprise US Open champ Emma Raducanu from the Queen, who knows a changing of the guard when she sees one pic.twitter.com/N6oSOq0Iub
— Christopher Clarey (@christophclarey) September 12, 2021
Huge congratulations @EmmaRaducanu on your stunning performances and historic Grand Slam victory! Incredible –we are all so proud of you. @LeylahFernandez well done on your amazing achievements at this year’s #USOpen, it’s been a pleasure to watch. C
— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) September 11, 2021
Congratulations to @EmmaRaducanu on your #USOpen win – what a fantastic achievement! 🇬🇧 We are all so proud.
Well done to @LeylahFernandez 🇨🇦 today too. An outstanding match between two inspiring young women – we can’t wait to see where you go next. 🎾 pic.twitter.com/54tE6WYbZW
— The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) September 11, 2021
What I appreciate is that everyone name-checked Leylah Annie Fernandez as well. Both teenagers are daughters of immigrants, and both have connections to Canada, a commonwealth country. The only quibble I have is that Kate alone sent the message to Leylah and Emma – that’s what the “C” indicates, that the message is coming “from Catherine.” Because don’t you know, Prince William doesn’t care about women’s tennis or women’s sports. William is too much of an elegant He-Man to care about women’s things.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Instagram.
I want nothing but good things for this sweet, young woman. Protect her at all costs!
Completely agree. Her smile lights up the courts & her play is dazzling. I loved that the royalty of F1 all congratulated her as she is a fan of the sport. I really do hope they protect her. As the world will be pulling & grabbing every chance it gets. I feel Naomi wasn’t better protected & she is suffering the consequences now.
When asked about piss moron, Emma replied “I don’t know HER.” Ouch.
She was too busy studying for her A levels and practicing tennis.
Lucky for Emma she won, otherwise the papers would be tearing her apart like when she withdrew from Wimbledon, or attack her like they did the black football players, when England lost.
“I don’t know her” –?! Perfection! *chef’s kiss*
That is AMAZING. How devastating for Piers.
One of my favourite things to come out of this, other than her winning, was everyone who blasted the Daily Express for their front page just before the final where they split it between blasting migrants (how DARE they try and come to this country, awful foreigners) and cheering Emma on for the final. No irony.
I really felt for her after she withdrew at Wimbledon and this is just epic, we watched the match and it was so nail-biting. I also love that her outfit is the colours of the Romanian flag (thanks google for proving my hunch right on that). Given how hard it can be for people from Eastern European countries here in the UK it’s wonderful that she’s proud of her heritage in this way.
I doubt that her outfit, as great as it was, was an intentional Romania tribute. There were quite a few top ranked players in the US Open who wore that same outfit. Off the top of my head, Bianca Andreescu, Aryna Sabalenka, and Elina Svitolina also wore the exact same thing throughout the tournament.
You are correct except Emma added the yellow visor which completed the colors for the Romanian flag. I don’t recall the others did the same
I think it’s nice that she got congratulated; I think she’s amazing. And Leylah too. However, it seems weird that Kate can pull this much enthusiasm out of the bag about tennis yet fuck all about most else. Its now more than 60 days since she was last seen in public.
It’s because it’s not really Kate, it’s the guy they hired to do their social media. Remember? They hired the Sussex’s media guy. Kate could give a ‘F’ about any of it. She only cares about the men’s tennis remember?
Well Kate is the patron of the LTA and Emma is a big part of Pro Scholarship that the LTA put in place and they paid for her team at Flushing
‘Thanks to this programme I have been able to tailor my training around my individual needs as I have been in full time education. Putting a team around me that understood this was vital and because of it I have been able to progress quickly, winning some $15k and $25k events and achieving a new career high. Although for me, I feel this is just the beginning.’
Well she was right . She got to take 18 months off and not play that entire time
I like her tennis outfit
What an exciting and amazing match to watch and both young women displayed such poise and graciousness afterwards. Really looking forward to watching them for years to come.
Kate is patron of the LTA that’s why “she” signed her tweet with C. She wanted people to know that the message was coming from her. It was good she included Leyla this time because as some Canadians pointed out in her first message she didn’t mention her.
I was amazed with the speed in which the entire royal family sent congratulations to Emma. They were ready to jump on that bandwagon for their self interest. Pity they refused to respond to other pressing matters with the same urgency.
Yes it’s obvious they were watching along and were ready to go to with tweets. Too bad mental health issues don’t have such a prompt response.
It’s not Kate! It’s her social media team – the guy she got who handles all their postings. That’s why its been looking so much better since they brought him on.
Kate did not write or talk like this before that.
Congrats to Emma! She seems so lovely. I no nothing about Tennis but she is very talented and hopefully has a very bright career/future ahead of her.
As for the messages, they’re standard messages. Nothing to say really. Kate is /the/ tennis fan so that’s probably why the message came from /her/.
I hate the way the Brits and Royal family are always so over joyed and welcoming when a British immigrant comes back dripping with the gold or winnings. But dare they fail how nasty and unsupportive it all becomes.
Amazon owns the rights to the US OPEN???!!!!! How? Why? Is that why it’s not on NBC anymore on the weekends? Ugh my hatred for Bezos continues
ESPN has the US rights to the US Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open. The Tennis Channel has the rights to the French Open and everything else on the ATP and WTA tours. In the Uk, I believe Amazon has the tennis rights.
https://brokenbottleboy.substack.com/
Again comprehensive breakdown of British media coverage of us open winner with brief mention of Piss Moron: loved the diss from Emma. Why would an elite athlete care about anything a washed up has been has to say?