British tennis star Emma Raducanu is coming out swinging and says she is tapping into the determined tactic which launched her to US Open victory and world stardom last year.
The 19-year-old shocked the tennis world last year with an unbelievable run at Flushing Meadows failing to lose a single set throughout her campaign, from the qualifying round through to winning the event. However, so far this season the world number 13 has struggled to replicate her US Open success getting beaten in the second round at each Grand Slam.
In preparation for the US Open the British No. 1 one looks to have rekindled her form with impressive wins in this week's Cincinnati Open over Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka.
Despite being beaten in the third-round by Jessica Pegula in straight sets (7-5,6-4), Raducanu says she has rekindled the attituded which led her to success last year.
She said: “I've started going for my shots more — recently I’ve been playing and hoping they (the opposition) would miss. This week I was just like, I’m going to try it, I don’t care if I make errors, I’m going to overhit if anything.
“If I’m going to lose, I’m probably going to lose anyway pushing the ball around at this level, it just doesn’t work. So I thought I’m just going to do it, give this tournament a swing and it worked.”
The British teenager has been forced to battle against injury problems this year that have undoubtedly hampered her progress throughout the season. This month she admitted playing through the pain barrier win with blisters on her racquet hand at the Citi Open.
However, two wins at the Cincinnati Masters this week including a memorable victory over retiring Williams has given Raducanu belief going into the US Open.
“It is definitely relieving because I feel like I’m swinging with the same sort of freedom that I had, or more similar to, last year,” she added. “I can really take it as a positive week and I feel like I am heading in a positive direction again.
"I feel more comfortable in what I’m doing now. At the US Open, I played really good tennis, I was swinging with the freedom that I started to tap into this week.”
