Emma Raducanu. She done good

 Like many, I became gripped by Emma Raducanu's run to the US Open final. And like most, I only became aware of her during her great run at Wimbledon. A terrific run, sadly cut short by breathing difficulties.

Being a keen fan of all sports, Tennis is one of the few that I've always struggled to get on board with. As far back as I can remember It's been plagued with behaviour that just gets under my skin.

Mckenroe was one of those players. But it wasnt the fact that he consistently had these childish outbursts, behaving like a 2 year old who resented being weaned off the breast, it was the fact that he got away with it so much.

Which makes it strange that after retirement he became one of my favourite Tennis commentators/pundits. It's a strange World indeed.

Mckenroe's childish outbursts aside, I actually enjoyed the Men's game just as much as I enjoyed the Women's. That was until the screaming came in.

Now anyone who plays any kind of Sport knows that sometimes the sheer effort of playing will result in some grunting, but the Women's game devolved into a game of screaming. Completely unnecessary, 100% annoying and had me scrambling as fast as I could to change channels. I just didn't want to watch 2 Women literally shouting the ball back towards each other for a couple of hours.

As the years went by, things only went from bad to worse in both the Men's & Women's games. Women's screaming got louder and longer and spread throughout the game infecting the Men's side too. Smashing up rackets, arguing with umpires smashing chairs, advertising hoardings, even the umpires chair.

In short. For me at least, Tennis slid down the crapper and just kept on going. Eventually becoming the only Sport I couldn't care less about. A sport for rich, spoilt brats and the sycophants who hung on their every word.

If I had a time machine, apart from going back in time and earning myself a ton of money and solving every unsolved crime, I would bring back Brian Clough. Get him to take an umpires course and bung him in the chair for as many matches as I possibly could. For Clough, respect for an officials decision was final. No matter how bad that decision, you respected it and got on with the game.

There have been bright spots over the years, but few and far between to redeem this most brattish of all the sports. 

Tim Henman who while never becoming a grand slam winner did become an icon in British Tennis and proved that actually you can be a good player and not behave like a childish moron. 

Andy Murray, who has also fallen foul of behaving like someone's stolen his lunch money and that someone was the umpire, has still managed to uphold a sense of sporting decency for the vast majority of his career. 

I did watch gripped the day he won Wimbledon. I'd never in my life witnessed someone so desperate to give British fans a long awaited Men's singles champion. The sheer will power he had to win that day was astounding.

But then it's back to the screaming and the smashing.

I don't expect all Sporting stars to be paragons of virtue, I'm not that naïve. But I would at least have more respect if the punishments were more fitting. Tennis doesn't stand alone, but it does stand above every other sport.

I could barely watch Raducanu's final. Most of it was spent watching another channel while I kept an eye on the US open website which updated it's scores in real time and was about 30 seconds ahead of the TV.

 Emma's doing well, so it's ok to watch, it's getting tight, over to another channel. Well that's just me.

But there was one point, when I knew she was going to win.

Sitting in her chair on a medical timeout while Fernandez was sulking at the ref about how long it was taking I was struck by the attitude of both players. 

Fernandez thought she was denied momentum. And made sure she brought the crowd with her. And she also made sure that Emma could see & hear her as well.

Now I know all about momentum. You don't get momentum by winning 2 points in a row, not in this type of game. But Fernandez believed it, and I'm ok with that.

But If I were in a match that had a medical timeout. I would much, much rather be receiving at a break point up than I would serving at a break point down upon resumption. In fact, I reckon it helped Fernandez more, imagine the pressure of being patched up and having to go out and serve to save a break point? But maybe that's just me.

I don't think Raducanu's run will ever be matched. It truly was astonishing. You would have to contrive attempting something like that in the future. To not be granted a Wild Card but to be good enough to enter qualifying. Then to win every match in straight sets? Well the odds would be astronomical.

During the timeout, Emma looked serene, completely unfazed. At one point she glanced up to where Fernandez was remonstrating with the Ref, it was only for about 2 seconds. And that was when I knew she was going to win, I didn't change channels again.