They played in the largest tennis stadium in the world.
They were teenagers. They achieved a dream early in their careers.
It just as easily could have been a junior championship a year earlier in their careers.
Only a few people would have been watching then. Such an event might not even have drawn newspaper coverage.
REAL LIFE NOW SETS IN
This meeting was much bigger and more important. The two participants would be $2.7 million richer between them before the day ended. They would become famous the world over, at least for now.
But this was Saturday, 9/11/21.
Real life now sets in. There probably are at least 100 other players in the world who are just as outstanding as Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez. Yet, most of them will never be involved in a Grand Slam singles final.
NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN
What Raducanu and Fernandez accomplished will never be forgotten, always listed in tennis annals.
England will always be proud of its new Grand Slam champion. At long last, Virginia Wade has company.
And Canada will never forget its feisty Grand Slam runner-up.
They stood the test while other more touted and talented players buckled at the knees. High-ranked players crumbled at the thought of losing to a mere teenager.
Next time, that advantage probably won’t exist.
BRITISH 18-YEAR-OLD WAS THE STRONGER PLAYER
Raducanu and Fernandez played the final like the teenagers they are.
Raducanu came close to making it a one-sided result when she held match point twice with a 5-2 lead in the second set. But Fernandez did not give up on her left-handed game that Raducanu had conquered before in the junior ranks.
After losing both points and the game to make the match closer, Raducanu fought off a pair of break points in the next game before making good on her third match point for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.
The British 18-year-old generally outplayed the 19-year-old Fernandez most of the 111-minute final. Raducanu had more firepower on her serve and ground strokes.
RADUCANU A PERFECT 10
Raducanu played like a tour veteran, even if it was only her fourth tour-level event. It was her 10th straight win without dropping a set, counting her three wins in qualifying just to get into the main draw. No women’s qualifier before even had advanced to a Grand Slam final.
She has the game to win consistently on the tour, but probably not strong enough to challenge the Top 10 players and Grand Slam titlists right away. She’s now no longer under the radar. Everyone wants to beat a Grand Slam champion.
This may have been just a one-shot opening that Raducanu took full advantage of to win a Grand Slam title. Just in case the road ahead gets bumpy, she might want to be thrifty with the $1.8 million payday.
James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award as the tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspapers. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com
