From start to finish, Raducanu did everything that coaches want their players to do. She played with purpose during points, and walked with it, too, between them. There wasn’t a wasted motion in her game, or a distracted or negative moment in her demeanor. Every shot was aimed squarely at winning, and every lost point was followed quickly by a better and more decisive one.
On her serve, she won points with the wide slice into the deuce court over and over. In the ad court, she used her hard, flat, first delivery to bail herself out of trouble. She made 76 percent of her first serves and saved all seven break points she faced.
On her return, Raducanu stepped inside the baseline and aggressively fired her two-handed backhand down the line—even when Sakkari hit a 107-m.p.h. second serve.
On her ground strokes, Raducanu gave herself big, safe targets crosscourt, but sent the ball there with shape and force. She only needed to hit 15 winners on the day, five fewer than Sakkari. It wasn’t all meat and potatoes, though; Raducanu also won points with drop shots and topspin lobs.
And everything she did was backed up by the crowd.
“I think today was really the most fun I’ve had on a tennis court,” Raducanu told the audience afterward. “I enjoyed every single moment. I was telling myself, ‘How many times re you going to get the opportunity to play in front of a full Centre Court?’”
