Emma Raducanu - Leapfrogging

[stotty]

We seldom talk about female players on the forum. No one seems to have any interest. auturohernanadez and hockeyscout have shown interest in the past because they both have daughters who play tennis, but by and large, forum members seldom discuss women’s tennis.

I have been watching tennis all my life and never seen anything like the rise of Emma Raducanu.

Before the US Open Emma had figured in just a handful of WTA main draws, and only as a wild card at that. At Wimbledon she was given a wild card entry and went on to reach the fourth round, which was amazing in itself.

Emma seems to have since gone on and leapfrogged the whole shebang. She’s bypassed all the seasoning a player is supposed to go through before being deemed capable of of any kind of grand slam success. She won the US Open on her first attempt without dropping a set.

I think it was hockeyscout who felt a player could bypass the whole system and still succeed. Emma certainly didn’t bypass the system but her extraordinary ability has seen her leapfrog the norms of player-development like no other before her.

Emma trains at Bromley, in Kent. Three years ago I had to shadow the performance coaching at Bromley and stood in on the lessons and training of various performance players. Emma, then around 15, was one of those players. Three things stood out about Emma. She struck the ball extremely well, she moved extremely well, and she was extremely confident, confident in the right way…self-assured confidence.

All the coaching that takes place at Bromley is excellent and Emma has been well coached and fitness trained in a conventional way, with nothing out of the box or unusual going on that I witnessed.

How a player leapfrogs like Emma has done takes some fathoming. She spent 7 months locked down like the rest of us before all this success. She has hardly played any significant tournaments whatsoever. Yet all of a sudden, out of the blue, Emma rises above all around her and leaves them in her wake. How she has transcended the norms is striking and surpasses everything else I have witnessed in tennis.

[jimlosaltos]

When the first title you get is the US Open women's singles final that's starting at the top!

But not only had she not won a title, prior to the US Open she'd never beaten anyone ranked higher than 42 (I'm scrolling through the list as I type, so no accuracy guarantees)? She'd lost to an unranked player, a player ranked 9,999 (somebody has to be) and a couple of players ranked below 300. Then suddenly, she runs the table?

Literally 8 days before her first US Open match I wanted to see her in the qualifiers for San Jose, but I was held up and she lost so fast I missed the whole match, 3-6, 2-6 to Zhang ranked 51.

Oddly, she met Zhang again in NY and roughly flipped the scoreline.

What did Raducanu start doing better in those literal few weeks?

[arturohernandez]

When the first title you get is the US Open women's singles final that's starting at the top!

But not only had she not won a title, prior to the US Open she'd never beaten anyone ranked higher than 42 (I'm scrolling through the list as I type, so no accuracy guarantees)? She'd lost to an unranked player, a player ranked 9,999 (somebody has to be) and a couple of players ranked below 300. Then suddenly, she runs the table?

Literally 8 days before her first US Open match I wanted to see her in the qualifiers for San Jose, but I was held up and she lost so fast I missed the whole match, 3-6, 2-6 to Zhang ranked 51.

Oddly, she met Zhang again in NY and roughly flipped the scoreline.

What did Raducanu start doing better in those literal few weeks?

Well, actually, this year, the women's final was more exciting to me than the men's final. I watched both. I used to watch a lot of women's tennis. I saw Graf and Sanchez Vicario at La Costa many years ago. It was a treat to watch them.

Then something happened. It became a slugfest and I just checked out.

Emma and Leylah made it into what tennis used to be. It used to be about movement and grace. Both of them are great to watch and I finally perked up again. The Type 2 forehand or even Type 1 forehand which simply wheelhouses the balls at warp speed was vanquished by speed, mobility and efficency.

There were a couple of sisters who came out of nowhere with little junior tennis. There is a certain Australian who took an entire 18 mos off from tennis to play cricket.

They did not play worse because of the time out of competitive tennis. Barty says that the time off gave her a chance to play with a team and not be so alone. The Williams sisters had the benefit of working with one of the premiere junior coaches in the US (probably in the world).

It sounds like Emma might have had issues with handling stress. Even in the final I could see fear in her face when she was playing. Leylah on the other hand was like Rocky Balboa. "You not so bad..." She was ready for the bout and on her toes.

My guess is that Emma had trouble handling her nerves. She couldn't quite figure out how to play on the court. Then she figured it out and she appeared suddenly.

Maybe they gave her Beta blockers. I have no idea why now and why her. But the only thing I fear is that the sudden 1 Billion dollar athlete might retreat. Winning even a single GS title is so difficult. But even more difficult is winning the second one.

We have had so many women players pop up and then disappear again. Can she sustain this level?

That is what I am wondering.

Any thoughts Jimlosaltos? Is that Jim lo saltos or Jim Los Altos?

[jimlosaltos]

Well, actually, this year, the women's final was more exciting to me than the men's final. I watched both. I used to watch a lot of women's tennis. I saw Graf and Sanchez Vicario at La Costa many years ago. It was a treat to watch them.

Then something happened. It became a slugfest and I just checked out.

Emma and Leylah made it into what tennis used to be. It used to be about movement and grace. Both of them are great to watch and I finally perked up again. The Type 2 forehand or even Type 1 forehand which simply wheelhouses the balls at warp speed was vanquished by speed, mobility and efficency.

There were a couple of sisters who came out of nowhere with little junior tennis. There is a certain Australian who took an entire 18 mos off from tennis to play cricket.

They did not play worse because of the time out of competitive tennis. Barty says that the time off gave her a chance to play with a team and not be so alone. The Williams sisters had the benefit of working with one of the premiere junior coaches in the US (probably in the world).

It sounds like Emma might have had issues with handling stress. Even in the final I could see fear in her face when she was playing. Leylah on the other hand was like Rocky Balboa. "You not so bad..." She was ready for the bout and on her toes.

My guess is that Emma had trouble handling her nerves. She couldn't quite figure out how to play on the court. Then she figured it out and she appeared suddenly.

Maybe they gave her Beta blockers. I have no idea why now and why her. But the only thing I fear is that the sudden 1 Billion dollar athlete might retreat. Winning even a single GS title is so difficult. But even more difficult is winning the second one.

We have had so many women players pop up and then disappear again. Can she sustain this level?

That is what I am wondering.

Any thoughts Jimlosaltos? Is that Jim lo saltos or Jim Los Altos?

Agreed. The women's final was excellent. The TV ratings show the audience (at large) agrees.

It's odd, tho. There were 36 was it men's matches that went 5 sets, the women's matches were incredibly lopsided. Yet, somehow all the drama and excitement was on the women's side. Emma ran the table in straight sets (while Leylah wiped out the top contenders; odd form of team work that).

I digress but that's a strong argument against 'slams' insistence on 5 set matches for the men. If media growth is (along with gambling) the future of revenue for ATP, something is wrong with their media presence, especially in the U.S. The world's top 2 men meet in the final with one going for a true Grand Slam and they're outdrawn by two unknowns?

Back to Emma. I barely saw her play before the US Open. As I mentioned, I tried to see her in person in San Jose but she lost too fast for me to get there.

Maybe it's just tension, as you mentioned? But I wish someone who saw her play before and after would explain the difference.

Key to her game appears, after a small sample, to be her service return. She's sort of a mini-Djokovic -- hard up the middle, rarely misses a return.

What else happened?

P.S. as far as my nom-de-web you can use any version as long as you don't keep your caps-lock key on. I don't like to be yelled at <g>.

[stotty]

Key to her game appears, after a small sample, to be her service return. She's sort of a mini-Djokovic -- hard up the middle, rarely misses a return.

What else happened?

Funny you should liken Emma to a mini Djokovic. Yes, she does return well, and, like Djokovic, she continually applies pressure during the rallies so the server is never off the hook or able to relax. Knowing how and when to apply pressure is generally something that takes years to learn but Emma seems to have acquired the skill straight off the bat.

But, like you, all of us are still learning about Emma because we have so little thus far to go on. It will be interesting to see how she copes going forward. She's an outward person as oppose to Osaka who is an inward person. Being outward helps. The only inward person who truly succeeded was Borg. Generally, it's better to be 'outward' than 'inward' in tennis in my view.

What Emma has achieved is the most remarkable thing I have witnessed in tennis.

[stotty]

Emma Raducanu splits from her coach. Seems harsh. There seems to be little in the way of diplomacy or sensitivity in the announcement. That's the coach's lot I suppose. You start off holding all the aces but in the end you become the card with the least value.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/24/emma-raducanu-splits-from-coach-who-guided-her-to-shock-us-open-triumph-tennis

I have thoughts on this kind of thing but would be interested to hear what others think?

[johnyandell]

Being a pro tour coach is to me the worst job in tennis!

[stotty]

Being a pro tour coach is to me the worst job in tennis!

Yes, on the whole it's a thankless task. If you remember, not too long ago, Dominic Thiem sacked Thomas Muster as his coach just two weeks into the job. No coach is safe. It seems unthinkable you wouldn't give Muster a year to prove his worth.

American coaches seem better at looking after themselves than Brits. Macci and Bollitierri, from what I understand, at least have players sign contracts that prevent them from exiting on the spot without paying their dues. In my day, the coach carried far more weight and it would have unthinkable to up sticks without a really good reason let alone talk publicly about it.

These days it's better to look at coaching as a service and nothing more. I've spent years coaching some very good players at cut price rates and got little in return except an expectation that they deserve a lower price. I learned my lesson the hard way and am now a lot richer in the pocket for it. It's a shame because my heart and soul is in tennis and no one could love the game more than me...no one could put more into a player than me. But as I have gotten older I have had to look after myself.

If you want to make bucket loads as a coach, focus on the rank and file, run massive group programmes, and hire plenty of coaches with personality and appeal. Forget the tour...

[doctorhl]

Yes, on the whole it's a thankless task. If you remember, not too long ago, Dominic Thiem sacked Thomas Muster as his coach just two weeks into the job. No coach is safe. It seems unthinkable you wouldn't give Muster a year to prove his worth.

American coaches seem better at looking after themselves than Brits. Macci and Bollitierri, from what I understand, at least have players sign contracts that prevent them from exiting on the spot without paying their dues. In my day, the coach carried far more weight and it would have unthinkable to up sticks without a really good reason let alone talk publicly about it.

These days it's better to look at coaching as a service and nothing more. I've spent years coaching some very good players at cut price rates and got little in return except an expectation that they deserve a lower price. I learned my lesson the hard way and am now a lot richer in the pocket for it. It's a shame because my heart and soul is in tennis and no one could love the game more than me...no one could put more into a player than me. But as I have gotten older I have had to look after myself.

If you want to make bucket loads as a coach, focus on the rank and file, run massive group programmes, and hire plenty of coaches with personality and appeal. Forget the tour...

You confirmed what I always suspected about tennis coaching. I think same may be true for many other individual sports, especially those sports with a thriving pro tour. It will be interesting to observe how the new sport of Pickleball, with its mind boggling, projected worldwide participation numbers, develops its fledging pro tour along with its coaching ranks. Perhaps the early leaders will have the foresight to learn from the path tennis has taken. Other racket sports like badminton, squash, table tennis and racketball never could get their pro tours to grow significantly worldwide (due to the fact that they make for terrible television viewing among other reasons).

[johnyandell]

A friend who had coached grand slam champions in the past was working with a then top 20 women's player. I saw him at Indian Wells and he asked me to film her serve, which was a technical disaster. He told her about the film and suggested she look at it. The next day she took him out to breakfast at Denny's and fired him. I think my friend was looking for a way out due to her personality and I helped him find it. He was visibly relieved.

[bababa]

Did that really happen??

[johnyandell]

Yes yes it did. And a few other similar ones too... Don't under estimate the blindness of really good players... She dropped off the face of the earth in the next year or two as I recall...

[don_budge]

A friend who had coached grand slam champions in the past was working with a then top 20 women's player. I saw him at Indian Wells and he asked me to film her serve, which was a technical disaster. He told her about the film and suggested she look at it. The next day she took him out to breakfast at Denny's and fired him. I think my friend was looking for a way out due to her personality and I helped him find it. He was visibly relieved.

Emma gets her first taste of competition as an Ultra Celebrity. How will she react? Her first opponent is Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Oops...the above was a post I forgot to hit "post reply". Apparently she didn't react. Hmmm...she has that huge target on her back now that says..."hit me". She fired the coach and comes out of the gate like a lead balloon. The psychology of her win and the implications were huge. She thought/thinks she needs to add a big name to her posse. It will be interesting going forwards. Expectations is a nasty mind you know what.

[jimlosaltos]

Emma gets her first taste of competition as an Ultra Celebrity. How will she react? Her first opponent is Aliaksandra Sasnovich.

Oops...the above was a post I forgot to hit "post reply". Apparently she didn't react. Hmmm...she has that huge target on her back now that says..."hit me". She fired the coach and comes out of the gate like a lead balloon. The psychology of her win and the implications were huge. She thought/thinks she needs to add a big name to her posse. It will be interesting going forwards. Expectations is a nasty mind you know what.

Sasnovich only beats players like Serena and Emma <g>. So, there's that. In fairness, the conditions in Indian Wells that day were about as slow as one will see on a hard court, vs the US Open where her return of serve shone.

Today, Emma's fellow finalist Leylah Fernandez plays with Coco in doubles. They're already won one match with breadsticks, while Leylah beat Cornet 2 & 3. She's one to watch. Went through the top seeds at the US Open like an ice breaker opening the way for Emma, only to not be able to make yet, one more come from behind push to take it all.

I get positive vibes from Leylah's lefty game. Quoted as getting a very helpful "pep talk" from Sharapova, which she won't reveal.

[seano]

Raducanu's body language and demeanor was completely different than the US Open, unengaged and uninterested. Expectations, demand for her time, social media and pressure is and will continue to be enormous. Tough thing for an 18 year old to handle. Hope she has a strong and supportive entourage. Hoping that she and Fernandez have great success. They were/are a breath of fresh air.