Flavia Pennetta on Emma Raducanu winning US Open as a qualifier: ‘In my day it would never have happened’

Tennis News
Sealed with a kiss. Emma Raducanu with the US Open trophy

Flavia Pennetta admits she is not a big fan of the “lack of consistency” in women’s tennis at Grand Slam level, saying Emma Raducanu’s US Open triumph would not have been possible when she was still playing.

Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a major when she won 10 matches without dropping a set at Flushing Meadows, beating fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez in the final in New York.

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With Raducanu winning, it meant that for the fifth year in a row no player have won two Grand Slams in one season on the WTA Tour with Angelique Kerber the last player to do so in 2016 when she claimed the Australian Open and US Open.

Pennetta, who won the US Open in 2005, believes “there is something wrong” with women’s tennis.

“I do not like it,” the Italian told Corriere della Sera. “What is happening, this strong lack of consistency, in my opinion it is not good for tennis.

“In my day it would never have happened that a girl who started from qualifying, like Emma Raducanu in New York, would win a Grand Slam.

“Top athletes made too much difference. There is something wrong. Charisma is missing, so women’s tennis is more difficult to sell.”

Emma Raducanu Flavia Pennetta

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