As gathered by my colleague on news, Max Stephens.
Tom Radford, 40, who was watching with his wife Lindsay, said: “She’s not dropped a set yet, she’s playing really well, really aggressive, I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be like her US Open run.
“She looks to be striking it from the baseline really well, and getting it to the corners really well, and always making her opponents play another shot.
“She’s playing really well, she’s got that vibes like the US Open [from 2021], I think she’s going to do it.”
His wife said: “She’s looked amazing. She’s so young as well, we’ve got children aged seven and ten, we live in Wimbledon, so to see someone a few years older than them, it’s so inspiring, and she’s so cool, she’s a real inspiration to young people and to women.
“We’ll bring them down next week on Monday or Tuesday to try and get them in after school, they play tennis, and they love Emma Raducanu and watching her on TV. It all feels very local to us as well as very pride-inducing as a Brit.”
“It’s amazing, and amazing for the sport,” said Sean Bidder, 51, who was on Henman Hill with his son Phoenix, 9. “There’s been so many wonderful sporting achievements in Britain in the last ten years, and it’s really helped getting people out there playing sports, and I think you’d see the same in tennis.
“At the tennis club we’re members at, they’re always trying to encourage young girls to play tennis, as there aren’t as many girls playing tennis. I’m sure if Emma Raducanu won Wimbledon, or got to the semis, you’d see more girls take up tennis, and that would be a great thing for the sport.
“I think she’s a brilliant role model. It’s been very evident, some of the struggles she’s been through – mental health struggles, some of the pressure, some of the stress. That’s something lots of people go through, but she’s found a way to come back. It can’t be that easy being that successful and famous in such a short space of time, so the fact she’s been able to rediscover her composure and come back to her best has got to be an inspiring thing.”
Jay Sharman, 49, queued up this morning from the “crack of dawn” with her family to watch the tennis. “[Raducanu’s] got a confidence in her,” she said, speaking from her perch on Henman Hill. “She really has and I can’t wait for her to come on. It’s one of the main reasons for sticking it out in the rain [in the queue].
“She’s an inspiration,” Sharman added, nodding at her daughter, Lola, who plays tennis. “I want to be like her,” Lola added.
“For someone so young as well, it’s really good,” Sharman said. “I watched her win the American Open. That was the first time I’d ever really heard of her. That she’d sort of come onto the scene and ever since then I’ve been watching her because we haven’t really had a British player to really get [the] game.”