Liverpool Coach, Jurgen Klopp surely couldn't hide his joy in witnessing 18 year old Emma Raducanu's stellar performance at the US Open.
Raducanu made history by becoming the first Briton in 44 years to win the prestigious tournament after beating fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez without dropping a single set. Klopp has described Emma Raducanu as “the talent of the century” and admitted he was overwhelmed by the 18-year-old’s sporting reaction to winning the US Open.
While impressed by the performance, Klopp said he was most inspired by the response of Raducanu and the defeated Leylah Fernandez to the result and believes their humility is an example to all elite sports people.
“It is long ago that I watched a full tennis game and I was impressed by the power, the speed and the whole game,” said Klopp. “Women’s tennis is obviously in a brilliant moment. These two girls, 18 and 19, what they showed in the game was massively impressive. But then when they got the trophies during the ceremony, how both girls spoke was really inspiring to be honest. Even more so than the tennis, which was inspiring enough. Klopp added: “When you are 18-year-old and win the US Open it can only come from hard work. She is for sure the talent of the century, but without hard work it is not possible to be there and doing that. Now she is there and you see her smiling during the game, it is the nicest thing I can imagine. I will watch women’s tennis much more, for sure, than I did in the last few years.”
US Open champion Emma Raducanu jumped 127 spots in this week's WTA Rankings, moving from No. 150 to No. 23, while runner-up at New York, Leylah Fernandez moved to No. 28.For the first time in six years, Britain has a new top player in Emma Raducanu. The Briton has won 21 of her past 25 matches. After reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon as a wildcard, Raducanu's ranking improved from No.338 to No.179, helping her secure a spot in qualifying at the US Open.By winning the US Open as a qualifier, Raducanu earned 2,040 points and jumped 127 spots to No. 23. She also overtakes Johanna Konta as the highest-ranked woman from Britain.
Other Young female tennis stars include 21 year old Ann Li and 19 year old Amanda Anisimov. Li has reached the third round at two of the last three major tournaments, the U.S. and the Australian Opens, and has moved up 78 spots in the WTA rankings since the beginning of 2020. She won her first WTA title in January. Anisimova burst onto the scene in 2019, when she she advanced to the fourth round at the Australian Open; won her first WTA title, at Bogotá; and made it all the way to the semifinals in Paris, notching wins over No. 11 seed Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Simona Halep along the way. She finished the year ranked No. 24, and looked like she might be tennis’ next star.