Fans at the Arthur Ashe Stadium were won over en masse by an 18-year-old whose US Open triumph ‘gives people hope’
More than three hours had passed since Emma Raducanu uncorked a 108mph ace on match point to finish off the Canadian teenager Leylah Annie Fernandez and win the most improbable US Open championship on record. The sun had long since disappeared over the west end of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and nearly all of the 23,703 spectators that had packed Arthur Ashe Stadium to the corners had dispersed.
Yet several dozen fans remained outside the gated media garden beneath the tournament’s main stadium court late Saturday night hoping for even a glimpse of the sport’s newest star – the 18-year-old from Kent who became the first qualifier ever to reach a major final, let alone win one – many of them still buzzing from excitement after witnessing an achievement that defies comparison. One that in the dizzying aftermath didn’t even seem real.