New York (AFP)

At Wimbledon, suffocated by the pressure, she had given up in 8th.

Two months later, Emma Raducanu, the first player in history from qualifying to win a Grand Slam at the US Open, established herself at 18 as the radiant new face of women's tennis.

At Wimbledon, the Londoner was suddenly dizzy and plagued with breathing problems, against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic.

Far from imagining then that she would become so quickly, in Flushing Meadows, the first Briton to win a Major since Virginia Wade in 1977 at Wimbledon.

The woman who was then the 338th in the world explained after her discomfort "having probably mismanaged stress by playing in front of such a large crowd".

It is clear that eight weeks later, having meanwhile won her first tournament on the WTA circuit in Chicago, Emma Raducanu quickly learned to control her emotions.

Especially since the immense Arthur Ashe and its 23,000 spectators, much more electric, have washed away players before it for decades.

- Intrepid -

This was vividly seen in the final against the other "teenager" Leylah Fernandez, 19, who also caused a sensation during the fortnight.

As in her previous nine matches, she won in straight sets (6-4, 6-3), becoming the youngest winner in Major since Russia's Maria Sharapova who won Wimbledon at 17 in 2004.

No one knows how the young woman, who brought a breath of fresh air to tennis with the Canadian, will be able to manage this new media exposure.

This can be difficult to bear, as evidenced by the case of Naomi Osaka, to whom she succeeds the prize list, who is plagued by recurring anxiety problems.

Raducanu, which appears in the latest British edition of Vogue magazine, is already "bankable" since it has signed partnerships with equipment manufacturers Nike and Wilson, but also the jeweler Tiffany & Co.

As a child, Emma was "shy" and felt a bit "the intruder of the lot", she told the magazine.

Born in Toronto to a Romanian father, Ian, and a Chinese mother, Renee, she was two when they moved to England to pursue their careers in finance.

In Bromley, city of greater London where David Bowie, who sang the merits of another "China Girl", also grew up, Raducanu is of the intrepid type, alternating ballet, horse riding and even karting.

"I was the only girl in my group to do it and motocross too, I thought it was pretty cool. Once, my motocross teacher said to me + well, we are going to do push-ups +. I was the only one to to be able to do them, I was proud of myself ".

- "Superstar in the making" -

Yet it is in tennis that she has a glorious future, when she is barely five years old.

"Emma was having the discussions with the coaches. We couldn't believe it. I remember thinking we would see her one day at Wimbledon," her then teacher Rebecca Rodger told The Times.

History has proven him right.

Talent is not everything, Raducanu explained this week to Flushing Meadows that his mother "instilled in him from (his) young age work and discipline".

She also says she was also inspired by Li Na, the former Chinese player who won Roland Garros in 2011, "just by the way she was a fierce competitor".

"My parents have high expectations of me. I've always tried to live up to it," she said, not yet knowing that she would reach the top a few days later.

Former champion Martina Navratilova, she had already announced during the tournament: "she is a superstar in the making. We do not want to put too much pressure on her, but she has this thing that we saw the first time. with (Rafael) Nadal, (Novak) Djokovic and that we see for (the 18 year old Spaniard) Carlos Alcaraz. It's there before our eyes. She was born for that ".

© 2021 AFP