Jennifer Brady admitted to feeling “emotional” when she stepped on the US Open courts this week and also recounted “a high-quality semifinal” against Naomi Osaka at Flushing Meadows. Brady, 28, reached her first Grand Slam semifinal at the 2020 US Open. That year, the US Open was held behind closed doors and Brady made the semifinal before suffering a 6-7 (1) 6-3 3-6 loss to Osaka. After 2021 Cincinnati, Brady was forced to miss the US Open due to a knee injury and the American ended up sidelined until this year’s July. Brady, who missed the last two US Open editions, is healthy again and set to compete in front of her home fans in New York once again.
Brady recounts her US Open semifinal against Osaka
“Of course, it was emotional stepping back on that court but they were good emotions because the last match I played there was the semi-final against Naomi Osaka and, to me, that was probably one of the best matches that I’ve ever played, even though I lost. Within the first five minutes of my hit on Ashe this week, I was already smiling pretty big and happy to just to be out there and hitting again. What I remember from that semi-final against Naomi is that it was such a high-quality match, from the very first point all the way to the end. Both of us were in the zone, dialled in, and it was just really high-quality tennis. I was moving well, playing well, feeling the ball. Just really enjoying it. It was 2020, so it was unfortunate that we had no fans in the stadium, but I hope I get the chance to come out and play on Ashe again this year, and hopefully many more times. It will probably be more emotional, having fans there and playing in front of a crowd and a little bit more nerves, but I think looking back, that match was probably one of the best matches either one of us has ever played,” Brady wrote in Eurosport’s Players’ Voice.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login