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September 17, 2021,
They can all hit the shots, but often, so many don’t make the most of their shot.
Their one shot before their window closes to breakthrough during their day in the sun on the grandest stage, at the mighty US Tennis Open.
This year’s 2021 US Open is the most unique our team has seen and we have been watching the Open for 30 years.
Emma Raducanu defeated Leylah Fernandez in two sets, 6-4, 6-3, in what was the first all-teenage women’s singles final since the 1999 US Open between Serena Williams and Martina Hingis.
Emma won the US Open without dropping a single set. Not only was it her first WTA singles title, it was also her first Grand Slam championship as well.
As a result, she rose to No. 23 in the world rankings.
She gained more than 100 ranking places, entering the top 25 and displacing Johanna Konta as the British women’s singles No. 1.
That is the tip of the iceberg.
What lies beneath was a tournament filled with women who appear to be going in wildly different directions at the same time.
Emma’s life, for now, will never be the same. She has already reportedly won 2.5 million dollars and that alone will change your fortune in massive measures.
The endorsements haven’t even really started yet, but they will.
Leylah’s fortunes have changed tremendously as well. Following her performance, she reached a career-high singles ranking of 28 on September 13, 2021.
Two unseeded players battling it out in a major final had never happened, on the men’s or women’s side, until now.
There are other stars whose fortunes are now in question. Not their bank accounts. Virtually all at the Open are millionaires.
It is their day in the sun fortune. Will they ever get their day in the sun, when it really matters?
We start with Madison Keys.
She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 7 in the world in October 2016 and has been consistently ranked inside the top 25 by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) since early 2015.
She has played in one Grand Slam tournament final at the 2017 US Open, competed at the 2016 WTA Finals, and was a semifinalist at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She has won five WTA tournaments, all at the Premier level. Her biggest title came at the 2019 Cincinnati Open, a Premier 5 event.
When she lost to her friend Sloane Stephens in the 2017 final, we felt her star would not only rise, but surge.
It didn’t.
There were the usual suspects, including injuries. Her left wrist has needed surgery performed.
What intrigues us though is the inconsistency at the major tournaments.
Madison is now 26 and though players are now playing well into their thirties, not many of them are winning Grand Slams at their later stages.
Where does Madison go from here?
She fought her heart out against Ms. Stephens in the first round of this year’s Open but, all said and done, she still lost to Sloane. Again. We watched the match and with her leading in the last set, we felt it was hers to win and she faded.
Will she get her day in the sun again? Probably. She has a big powerful game but she doesn’t seem to be as confident as she once was.
We expected much more of her after 2017 and we hope that she finds that consistent powerful play once again.
Jessica Pegula is another American who we love to follow but are starting to wonder if she has peaked.
She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25 achieved on June 21, 2021.
That is big news because for some time we thought she had too good a life away from the tennis courts.
Jessica is the middle daughter of American professional sports investor and natural gas tycoon Terry Pegula. Who is he?
He owns the Buffalo Bills.
Jessica has business ventures of her own too.
She started 2021 very well.
She attained major success at the Australian Open, defeating former Australian Open champion and 12th seed Victoria Azarenka, Kristina Mladenovic, former US Open champion Samantha Stosur and fifth seed Elina Svitolina to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal where she lost to eventual runner-up Jennifer Brady despite winning the first set.
This strong showing at the Australian Open in February allowed Pegula to enter the top 50 for the first time and took her to a new career-high ranking of world No. 43.
The question we had, with all of that going on, from a position of wealth, can she really be hungry enough to have her day in the sun at the finals?
We are starting to think not.
When we saw her play at this year’s Open, she did well enough to make it to the third round and lost in two sets to Belinda Bencic.
It was during that match that we felt she just doesn’t have enough weapons to challenge for the top. It was painfully obvious. It wasn’t a matter of, a lack of emotional or mental toughness. Folding under pressure.
It truly seemed to be a matter of a limited arsenal.
The question is, can that be fixed?
Another American, Coco Gauff’s trajectory is raising questions.
True she is only 17, but she got off to such a great start making it to the 4th round of the 2020 Australian Open.
What occurred then, in our minds, is eerily the same as what happened with Sloane Stephens at this year’s US Open.
In Australia, with Sofia Kenin, Coco fought out an extremely tough first set but fell 5-7 in the tie breaker. Then in the second set, she completely collapsed, losing 0-6.
Recently here, with Sloane, Coco fought out the first set in respectable fashion, losing 4-6, but once again, in the second set, she completely collapsed at 2-6. The second set was never in doubt and like Sofia, Sloane made Coco look very inexperienced.
Are our expectations of Coco too high?
We don’t think so. It is not just that she is losing in the big matches on the grandest stages, it is how she is losing, where she appears to become demoralized in the second set, if she loses the first.
Hopefully that will change. There is plenty of time but we sense her camp is very aware of that.
Finally, there is the inevitable troubling question about who we feel is still the best player in the women’s field.
Will we see Naomi Osaka return to form where she dominates again?
Now, were not asking if she will sporadically win again. We are asking if she will have consistent high level results, winning majors as she has in recent times.
Her emotional state of mine is the major question.
Is her emotional distress something that can be addressed by one of the best Sports Psychologists or is she, at least for now, giving up on the sport because she doesn’t want to play it anymore? She wants a new and different life, as it were.
We sure hope not. She is clearly one of the best talents to come along in years. Especially on the hard courts.
Naomi mentioned that she is relieved when she wins, not happy.
Isn’t that just part of the process, until you reach a point where you have a major record to break, like Serena? If you break the record, then the joy returns. Somehow you have to keep grinding it out, victory after victory, with only relief as the prized emotion, until you close in on history.
Then we are certain the joy will return, if you don’t leave the game prematurely or take the dreaded long break for years and have to build your rankings up again.
We are huge Naomi Osaka fans and hope she finds a way to keep playing, even if the greatest emotion is relief.
This is why we’ve watched the US Open for over 30 years. It reveals so much about human character, alone in the spotlight in front of millions around the world.
With some, we get definite answers, like Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez who showed massive courage under the bright lights when other major stars wilted.
With others, in terms of their trajectory, we have searching questions.
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OPENING PHOTO Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Carine06-from-UK-Arthur-Ashe-Stadium-with-the-roof-closed-wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Raducanu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leylah_Fernandez
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madison_Keys
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Pegula
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
