Tim Henman not impressed by Emma Raducanu's plan after stunning US Open win

Emma Raducanu was in a jovial mood after she served up another hugely impressive display at the US Open and she then revealed a bizarre plan that left former British No 1 Tim Henman speechless.

Raducanu swept aside qualifier Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-1 in exactly an hour to reach the third round at Flushing Meadows and set up what promises to be an explosive clash against No 9 seed Elena Rybakina.

Yet when Henman was informed by Sky Sports presenter Gigi Salmon that Raducanu was going to play golf after creating some time at the end of her day following her quick win against Tjen, he was a little confused.

Raducanu went back on the practice court after her quick-fire first round win, but she was planning to hit some golf balls after this latest win.

“She said I’ve been given the afternoon off and she was off to play golf. She said she has never played golf before,” Salmon told Henman.

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“Golf? Is this a joke or is this serious?” questioned Henman. “Okay, well that will test her back out,” he added.

Henman’s comment was not misplaced as Raducanu revealed her long-running back problem flared up a little in the second set of her win against Tjen.

“I just had a little bit of stiffness in the second set,” said the British No 1. “I think I have been doing a lot of training and I’m just happy it didn’t affect me too much in the second set and I was still able to compete and to perform well and keep putting out good serves, good returns.”

Raducanu went on to suggest she was content with her form ahead of what will be a huge challenge against Rybakina on Friday.

“I’m particularly happy because, on the court, I felt like my opponent was playing really good tennis,” said Raducanu of Tjen, who knocked out 24th seed Veronika Kudermetova in round one.

“I thought that she was very dangerous and any ball that I put mid-court was going to be punished. So I’m very pleased with how I kept dictating the points, I kept dictating the play and didn’t let her get her front foot on the court.

“She’s obviously been playing very well, done a lot of winning and took out Veronika in the first round. Of course, I was on full alert playing today. I’m just very pleased with that performance.

“I thought that I served very well and I put quite a few aces on the board today. It always helps me when I’m serving well. It just kind of seeps into the rest of my game.”

Despite his bemusement over her golf plan, Henman was full of praise for Raducanu.

“Raducanu will take so much confidence from that,” he added.

“If you take out of the equation the ranking of her opponent, and purely focus on the way Emma played, it was highly impressive.

“Today I thought he performance was brilliant. I’ve seen her around the place over the last few days and she is in a great place. The off-court stuff is just as important as the on-court stuff.”

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