What a talent and remember how short of match play Emma was and presumably of that much tennis at all as she single mindedly concentrated on her studies.
She came back at British tour in the second half of May, hardly dominating scorewise in the way I had half expected, losing one final to Katherine Barnes and winning a fairly tight final against Kylie Bilchev the following week.
Then she had just the two Nottingham events in June, steadily looking better and better and the Wimbledon MD WC came her way.
Now these 2 matches at Wimbledon. She might be quite good once she's been more focussed on her tennis for a longer while
It will be interesting tomorrow to see the media coverage she (deserves) gets as opposed to the lack of media cam has gotten through the entire year.
The media have always loved pretty teenage starlets in Tennis, while Cam and Evo are still in Murray's shadow as far as the public are concerned.
Great result for Emma, her potential has been obvious from a young age but results like this prove she is the real deal. She seems pretty level headed so hopefully the extra attention won't effect her game.
After Cirstea, the next opponent is either Ostapenko or Tomljanovic in the last 16. If Emma can manage to reach the last 16 it would be a fantastic achievement that does not happen too often for our women at Wimbledon in recent times. Apart from JoKo's last 8 in 2019 and last 4 in 2017 you have to go back to 2013 when Laura reached the last 16. Then it is back to 1998 with Sam Smith last 16 and even further back to 1985 with Jo Durie last 16. Just a bit about Vondrousova. She has been selected for the Czech Republic Olympic team based on a protective ranking and 2019 performances. The more in form Muchova has not been selected. People who follow junior tennis may or may not remember that Vondrousova was top seed for the girls singles at Wimbledon in 2015 and was beaten in the 1st round by Anna Brogan.
Shout out to Melanie South who is an excellent commentator and made the match even more enjoyable - she's so insightful and sharp on technique and tactics. Fortunate to have her on ESPN+! I hope the world feed, Beeb, Tennis Channel use her more.
Well done Emma Raducanu, a spirited performance, based on working hard, and getting in position to be able to play effective tennis. Some great winners down the line, and kept the pedal to the metal, right till the end. Vondrousova on the other hand really didn't put the same degree of effort in, and too many times ended up playing half-hearted shots. If it wasn't for her powerful serve, Vondrousova would have been overrun. Emma seems to have plenty of self-belief, and on todays showing is able to overcome the inevitable nervous moments during match play.
Katie Boulter also performed very well, against Sabalenka, at times making her opponent seem foolish, and without a clue how to play on grass. Again, it was only the booming serve that gave Sabalenka the edge. With Sabalenka seeded 2nd in the women's draw, and based on her inept play for most of the match, I reckon seedings should be more determined by a player's proven results on grass. There's no way Sabalenka should be given an easier path to the final, just because she has such a powerful serve.
My understanding is that Sears has been part of Emma's coaching team for a few years to be able to be called upon from time to time, but Matt James was her coach up until end of last year. Sears WTA page says he works with Emma as a consultant which sort of fits with that.
According to the commentary last night, the current arrangement is only for the grass season, but perhaps it will now continue?