Emma Raducanu, #USOpen champion talks to @BBC Breakfast from home 🔴 BBC

emma very good morning to you good morning thank you for having me on well look it's an absolute delight to speak to you can i just officially say on behalf of bbc breakfast and all the people watching you this morning a massive congratulations on your extraordinary achievement thank you very much i i have to ask this question has it fully sunk in yet because i'm getting i think we're talking to you at home and i'm looking at all the cups behind you which is a sort of marker about where you've been in the past has it sort of sunk in when you're around loved ones just the scale of what's happened in such a short space of time yeah i think it's gradually becoming and sinking in a bit more because last night i actually just re-watched the final and tried to relive a couple of the moments and remember how it felt so it is sinking in a little bit more but it's still such a whirlwind of an experience i've loved every moment of it um but it is something that's very difficult to fully comprehend emma i'm fascinated morning by the way it's naga i'm fascinated by the fact that you watched the finals so tell me when you were watching it did you have but even though you knew what happened did you have butterflies in your stomach or were you kind of looking at it quite forensically or were you taking in the crowds what were you feeling and thinking yeah it's funny because when i was watching it it almost feels like that's not me who's playing and pulling off some of those shots it feels like it's someone else but i i knew what exactly was going to happen but still at some very tense moments and rewatching it um i was really proud of how i came through some tough moments and also the time out at the end i uh didn't realize how stressful that was on tv compared to live did it feel that stressful then when you were actually in that timeout yeah i mean i was actually because i didn't really want to take the time out because i was having to serve break point down and i thought it would mess my own rhythm up um but then i i my knee was was fully cut and it's actually still open this is still an open wound oh is it still sore yeah but i mean it's flying completely but it's just still open emma tell me i know is it true you haven't got the trophy back with you you flew back but it's being shipped back so you haven't actually been have you what spot where's the spot it's going to go on on the shelves or is it going to have its own cabinet tell me well at the moment i'm not sure maybe front and center somewhere over there but uh maybe i'll maybe i'll do a nice display for something i'm not sure uh emma just talk us through a few things here because was a moment in time saturday night when you were playing a final uh a lot of people in this country frankly everything came to a standstill everything stopped and they sat there literally set the clocks getting get in front of the tv sit on the sofa and see an extraordinary thing happen and uh for for a lot of for there were people drawn to who weren't necessarily tennis fans who bought into your story though your approach can you give us a little bit of an insight into how your mindset work you're able to smile but concentrate you're able to be focused but love the moment can you just give us a little thought process because everyone wants a bit of that yeah i mean it means a lot so thank you to everyone who watched and supported and sent me some really kind messages but i would say that the most important thing was for me to stay relaxed and in the moment because there was a lot at stake in the final and it's just very important not to get ahead of yourself and to treat each point one at a time and i think that's what i managed to do very well before the match i was nervous i felt like something wasn't quite right it something felt a little bit off but i was i couldn't put my finger on what that was and uh i think that's just usual nerves because of the occasion but then once i got onto the court i felt like it was almost any other match i just treated it point for point and went about my business as usual and was just trying to focus on my craft my plan and what i was going to try and execute well that ties in really nicely emma because we've been talking to some young people and young tennis players i know you weren't there that long ago who had a have a few questions for you now tiana i was obviously watching the match and is inspired by you we're going to play her question and see and see how you respond hi emma what you started tennis well that that was actually ava so we'll get that one answered first then i was five years old when i started playing tennis i started tennis along with many other sports which i actually think helped me develop a lot of motor skills and my coordination in general and as i got a little bit older i had to commit to one sport because tennis was taking up the weekends with all the tournaments but i would say playing many other sports and just throwing yourself into different activities helped in a lot of aspects of of tennis but also growing up emma you you'll know this uh young people ask questions that maybe we're not allowed to so this one is from tiana so hopefully you can hear this one all right have a listen hi emma i just wanted to ask how did you manage the stress to be the last sprint in the u.s open and get to the final to be able to have the opportunity to win i personally didn't feel any stress i was just having a lot of fun out there and i think that's what helped because i wasn't thinking at all about anything that was out of my control or that was going on off the court i was just really focusing in on my matches and what i was trying to achieve and i think that's probably the key that helped me um have the run i have because i wasn't distracted i was just focusing on what i had to do and i executed okay yes you definitely did so emma fast forward a little bit so you've won the match and it's starting to sink in and then you've got a few days in new york now there were some extraordinary moments and i i've seen a few other pictures there was one of you with a billboard of yourself and i mean what are those moments like and you were meeting some extraordinary people yeah it was pretty amazing i think after the final it was it was a really nice moment i just shared it with my close team back at the hotel and on the way to the hotel after winning and leaving the club there was there's sort of a party bus going on in a sprinter van with with a lot of music uh good tunes and we're all just singing along and then we had a really nice night just talking until early on in the morning um just reflecting on the whole experience and what's an amazing time it's been and then i managed to go to some really cool events and places i mean at the met gala i spoke to lewis hamilton which is really really cool being such a fan of motorsports and formula one so it was really nice to to see him and speak to him there and also everyone else the met was such a an artistic event with some great performances and um yeah i was very very honoured and grateful to have been able to go can i just pick you up on i'm thinking a bit of bus karaoke emma what was what was the go-to song yeah that's exactly what it well we had to we had to replay a sweet caroline in there and some great voices and mr bright side oh good tune very very good tune um so emma i'm fascinated what was the highlight and of course i'll tell you what let's get this question because this leads into my question as well this is from elias hi emma i'm just wondering what will you spend your prize money on i'll tell you what they're blunt aren't they you can't avoid those questions from children i well i spent i would just leave that to my parents and my team to be honest i'm just focusing on what i love to do which is competing um and just yeah they can take care of that did i read i did read i think emma that um you'd lost your um headphones your wireless headphones and perhaps you know if you'd made a bit of money that you might get them and did you manage to pick them up in a bit of shopping in new york no i haven't i haven't gone shopping yet i will i lost them for sure and i'm hoping to replace them sometime well hopefully you get to emma can i ask you and you'll tell me what you will about this about the domestic situation because the insight we've got into the radukanu family is mum and dad uh pretty tough operators they've pushed you hard along the way for which i know you've expressed a lot of gratitude um tell us a bit about what it's been like being at home and what what have they had to say about what you've done yeah i mean my parents it's probably tough love and at the time i'm probably not as grateful as in hindsight but they they just gave me a hug when i came back really nothing crazy no big celebration my mom made some really good homemade dumplings but uh that there's nothing crazy or over the top i think that they would they're just staying discreet and um yeah i mean just just some reassurance and saying they're proud of me is enough are they are they there right now emma are they there with you not in this room but somewhere upstairs emma there are loads of jokes going around um about parents who are now turning around to their 18 year old saying you can't even tidy your room you can't even wash up a dish take a look at emma radekanu she's done this tell me you are still a teenager and when you're at home what'd you get pulled up on what do i get pulled up on i think well i'm not the most organized so i need to work on that and uh i need to work on tidying up unpacking because i seem to live out of the suitcase even when three weeks after my trip uh i take my dishes after i eat um just just the usual stuff i'm honestly like every other teenager you know you will make a lot of teenagers particularly in the uk very relieved that you are not entirely perfect even though you are brilliant of course let's look ahead shall we so what the next tournament what are you looking forward to of course wimbledon next year but that's a while away what's happening in the meantime when'd you get back to it yeah i haven't actually discussed my tournament schedule yet because because of the change in my ranking uh the tournament options change slightly so i need to discuss and sit down and see what's next for me because i've had a very very long and intense seven weeks so i think i just really need some time to rest and recover because it's been very demanding physically and also just emotionally to to withstand seven weeks on the road i think i just really need to recover rejuvenate and next time i'll be ready to go whichever tournament i choose uh emma it's been a delight talking to you this morning when the trophy arrives and you put it in place can we can we consider agree a deal that we can have a look at that and see it there because that's going to be a magic moment for you and your family it's been lovely talking to you thank you so much take care emma well done thank you for having me thanks see the headlines as they happen and watch bbc news live in the app and get the full story with bbc dot co dot uk forward slash news follow the story for all the latest with bbc news

Channel: BBC

Views: 468,454

Rating: 4.8887892 out of 5

Keywords: British TV, British TV Shows, Watch British TV Online, Watch UK TV Online, breaking news bbc, breaking news live, emma raducanu interview, us open emma raducanu

Id: b8-SwU7HMcs

Length: 12min 7sec (727 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Xenosys83]

Good interview. She was giving the same sort of answers to a lot of questions that she'd been asked before, but that's to be expected at this stage given she's done a lot of them.

She does sound very level-headed about things, and her parents don't seem like the types to celebrate too much or overdo it, they sound like they just humbly congratulated her and kept it within the family. She also seems keen to get back out and train once she rests up.

The whole money thing doesn't seem to matter to her either, which is great, because it's clearly not the motivating factor behind what she's doing.

Not resting on her laurels.

I suspect she'll be doing her round of TV gigs today from home. She's probably too tired to travel around from studio to studio anyway.

[u/McLarenMercedes]

I love how she's an F1 fan.

[u/Don_Quixote81]

Good old BBC Breakfast - easy questions and no pressing for more salacious answers, although Emma is very good at not giving much away.

I like them framing it around her being an inspiration to kids, that's much easier to deal with than holding her up as a national hero.

[u/Humbugged2]

Apparently she did GMB as well so that takes care of all the TV

[u/BigBlueMountainStar]

All round superstar!