Emma Raducanu takes break from US Open work as star goes out of comfort zone

Emma Raducanu has been putting in the hard yards on the practice courts, and it's showing. The British No. 1 is through to the third round of the US Open, dropping just six games and spending two hours on court across her first two matches.

After her opening-round win, she got straight back on the practice court. But Raducanu decided to take a well-earned break after thrashing qualifier Janice Tjen on Wednesday, and decided to step out of her comfort zone with her coach and friends in tow.

"No practice today. I've been given the afternoon off, which I'm happy about. And then I'm going actually to the golf course to try something out," the world No. 36 told Sky Sports after her statement second-round victory.

Pundits Laura Robson and Gigi Salmon were shocked to hear that Raducanu would be trying her hand at golf.

Asked whether she played, Raducanu replied: "No, I'm just trying. I mean, Francis [Roig, her coach] and some friends play golf so I'm going to try and see how I am.

"I'm going to go and swing. So we'll see how it goes, try and get some airtime."

Raducanu and Roig have spent plenty of time on the tennis court since joining forces in Cincinnati a few weeks ago, and the extra training sessions have given the Brit plenty of confidence in matches.

On Sunday, Raducanu stormed past qualifier Ena Shibahara 6-1 6-2 to earn her first match win at the US Open since her 2021 title haul.

It took 62 minutes for Raducanu to get the job done - her fastest Grand Slam match win ever - and she was back on the practice court less than two hours later.

She broke her own record against Tjen on Tuesday, needing exactly an hour to seal a 6-2 6-1 victory, and said: "Yeah I'm really happy.

"I think it's one thing coming through matches but another thing to do it pretty convincingly, clinically, so that's something that I haven't necessarily done a lot of in the past.

"You know, all of my matches have been very long and I'm very happy that the first few rounds here have been pretty clinical and I've managed to stay ahead and stay pretty aggressive when I've been ahead."

For now, Raducanu will enjoy an afternoon off on the golf course. But there's no doubt she'll get straight back to work on Thursday, as she takes on either Elena Rybakina or Tereza Valentova in the third round on Friday.

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