Emma Raducanu or Leylah Fernandez for the US Open?

[Anonymous]

#TeamEmma

Both are fantastic rising tennis players.

Leylah has nerve of steel. Can probably eat a few slices of humble pie -- she should at least acknowledge some of the tennis greats whom she had to beat. She's toned down a bit since her first few matches so I find her more tolerable. Totally knows how to play the crowd in her favor, especially when she pumps and waves her fist up in the air. It's almost like she's conducting the New York audience.

Emma is smart but a little more inconsistent than Leylah. Has some big weapons that she can fine tuned in the future, and can only get even better. The crowd has been in her favor but I don't feel she riles them up the way Leylah can. More humble -- even when she wins, she will take time out to clap for the great champions as they depart the court, or acknowledge them in her interviews.

Rooting for Emma but think Fernandez might take home the trophy in 2021.

[Anonymous]

I was thinking Emma, because she hasn’t dropped a set to anyone, and although Leylah has beaten some tougher players, they none of them seemed to be playing their best.

Happy with either — what a great tournament!!

[Anonymous]

The nerves may be a factor for one. For each of them, to date, they had nothing to lose. Now they are going head to head with their peer. Whichever one wins it will be the same story and they have the same hunger. Great matches last night (and all these weeks). I'm so excited for the final.

[Anonymous]

Rooting for Emma here. Fresh faced, still humble and with her eye full of wonder. Flawless technique. And that smile!

[Anonymous]

Enjoy the teens but it doesn’t really speak well of women’s tennis that so many of the higher ranked players get hurt, can’t handle the pressure, or like Sabalenka choke and can’t close out matches. Maybe people will start to appreciate what Serena did more now that she’s no longer a contender.

[Anonymous]

I have been so delighted to see absolute joy on the faces of these two young players. We have all been starved for joy. I will be rooting for both of them. Neither can be truly disappointed with whatever the outcome is.

I can’t remember the last time I stayed up late to watch a tennis match! Agreed that this is a great tournament.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Enjoy the teens but it doesn’t really speak well of women’s tennis that so many of the higher ranked players get hurt, can’t handle the pressure, or like Sabalenka choke and can’t close out matches. Maybe people will start to appreciate what Serena did more now that she’s no longer a contender.

In some ways, Sabalenka dictated many of the plays of the match. She goes for her shots with power and it was either lots of unforced errors or lots of winners. Leylah constructed a few good points, but for the most part just really needed to get the ball back. Lots of unforced errors especially the crucial double faults that put her at 3 match points down at 4-5 in the last set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The nerves may be a factor for one. For each of them, to date, they had nothing to lose. Now they are going head to head with their peer. Whichever one wins it will be the same story and they have the same hunger. Great matches last night (and all these weeks). I'm so excited for the final.

Which one do you think might have nerves factor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enjoy the teens but it doesn’t really speak well of women’s tennis that so many of the higher ranked players get hurt, can’t handle the pressure, or like Sabalenka choke and can’t close out matches. Maybe people will start to appreciate what Serena did more now that she’s no longer a contender.

In some ways, Sabalenka dictated many of the plays of the match. She goes for her shots with power and it was either lots of unforced errors or lots of winners. Leylah constructed a few good points, but for the most part just really needed to get the ball back. Lots of unforced errors especially the crucial double faults that put her at 3 match points down at 4-5 in the last set.

I felt terrible for Sabalenka. But she really let herself down there. The crowd didn’t help her a bit either. Fernandez got some illegal coaching according to whomever was commentating. Where is that ref from the infamous Serena Naomi final?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been so delighted to see absolute joy on the faces of these two young players. We have all been starved for joy. I will be rooting for both of them. Neither can be truly disappointed with whatever the outcome is.

I can’t remember the last time I stayed up late to watch a tennis match! Agreed that this is a great tournament.

I also agree. I'm team Leylah, but I will be happy for whoever wins.

This has been a great tournament. I don't know how many others got sucked in to the Sakkari-Andreescu match the other night, but it was absolutely amazing. Such a shame it didn't start until after 11. Both women are so powerful and athletic. That was one of my favorite recent matches. It's such a shame that Maria had an off night last night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enjoy the teens but it doesn’t really speak well of women’s tennis that so many of the higher ranked players get hurt, can’t handle the pressure, or like Sabalenka choke and can’t close out matches. Maybe people will start to appreciate what Serena did more now that she’s no longer a contender.

In some ways, Sabalenka dictated many of the plays of the match. She goes for her shots with power and it was either lots of unforced errors or lots of winners. Leylah constructed a few good points, but for the most part just really needed to get the ball back. Lots of unforced errors especially the crucial double faults that put her at 3 match points down at 4-5 in the last set.

I felt terrible for Sabalenka. But she really let herself down there. The crowd didn’t help her a bit either. Fernandez got some illegal coaching according to whomever was commentating. Where is that ref from the infamous Serena Naomi final?

Does it count as coaching if it was her overzealous personal trainer? I think her Dad is her coach and he's not in the crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been so delighted to see absolute joy on the faces of these two young players. We have all been starved for joy. I will be rooting for both of them. Neither can be truly disappointed with whatever the outcome is.

I can’t remember the last time I stayed up late to watch a tennis match! Agreed that this is a great tournament.

I also agree. I'm team Leylah, but I will be happy for whoever wins.

This has been a great tournament. I don't know how many others got sucked in to the Sakkari-Andreescu match the other night, but it was absolutely amazing. Such a shame it didn't start until after 11. Both women are so powerful and athletic. That was one of my favorite recent matches. It's such a shame that Maria had an off night last night.

I don't know why the US Open starts the plays so late. Let's do a 9am start rather than the Noon start for these matches for daytime, and 4pm start rather than 7pm start for the night sessions. We miss some great plays when matches don't start until 10pm or 11pm and it can't possibly be fair to the players who get the late night matches that leak over to the next day. Not taking anything away from Emma, but if you think about it Sakkari had really 1.5 days to recover since her match with Andreescu did not end until past 2am. Then, it's said she only ended up sleeping 5 hrs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been so delighted to see absolute joy on the faces of these two young players. We have all been starved for joy. I will be rooting for both of them. Neither can be truly disappointed with whatever the outcome is.

I can’t remember the last time I stayed up late to watch a tennis match! Agreed that this is a great tournament.

Totally agree with all the above -- especially the joy factor -- so nice after seeing Naomi in such pain and misery. Hope these two young women can hang on to the happiness and fun of tennis!

[Anonymous]

Agree with above poster. Nice to see new faces!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been so delighted to see absolute joy on the faces of these two young players. We have all been starved for joy. I will be rooting for both of them. Neither can be truly disappointed with whatever the outcome is.

I can’t remember the last time I stayed up late to watch a tennis match! Agreed that this is a great tournament.

I so agree with this. I don't remember seeing the absolute joy and wide-eyed wonder from teen tennis players since the 90s. Let us all enjoy these fresh faces before they become too burned-out/cynical of the game.

I'll slightly be rooting for Emma but I'll be happy with whatever the outcome is.

As far as timing of matches....grrrr. I get it. Prime Time sells but I miss the days when there was at least one semi-final (both men's and women's) in the afternoon session and another one in the evening starting at 7 or so. Do both really need to be in the evening session? At least there is a men's semifinal starting not before 3 today. That is a little bit more reasonable.

On the men's side, nice to see that match from Jenson Brooksby(?) Will he be the USA's next great hope? I'm rooting for FAA to win his semi-final and square off against Djokovic in the finals.

With all the talk about the next-generation, this tournament has been the emergence of the next-next generation. Will those youngsters prove to be the next big things? And when did Canada become such a tennis powerhouse?

Go Emma. Go Leylah. You have me excited about the women's side again.