Singing along to Sweet Caroline and a 9/11 tribute: Raducanu v Fernandez was a final like no other

The tennis at the Arthur Ashe Stadium was sensational, but some of the moments in between were just as special as Emma Raducanu was crowned Queen of New York. On a stunning breakthrough night for Britain's new megastar of world sport, here are some of the spine-tingling memories that made it:

Sweet Caroline... beaming Emma

With victory complete, Raducanu was taking in the enormity, looking up to the stands from her courtside seat as Neil Diamond's soundtrack to a great British sporting summer suddenly bellowed out from the stadium speakers.

It was familiar line "hands, touchin' hands…” that prompted the 18 year old to raise her eyebrow knowingly and then sway with the crowd before the main "Sweet Caroline" chorus.

Every British fan inside the arena sang along, and Raducanu, a keen football follower who had been at Wembley watch England beat Denmark after her Wimbledon exit earlier this summer, knew the words just as well as they did.

Footage cut to middle-aged fans in Union Jack blazers waving flags enjoying the singing along and Raducanu was left smiling almost as much as they were.

Fernandez gets the mood just right as New York remembered 9/11

She may have lost the match but fellow teen Leylah Fernandez had the best speech of the night as they paid tribute to New York's response to the Twin Towers terror attack exactly 20 years earlier.

"On this day, it was especially hard for New York, and everyone around the United States," she told the crowd with maturity beyond her years. "I just want to say that I hope I can be as strong and as resilient as New York has been in the past 20 years."

Fernandez had earlier been close to tears as she hailed Raducanu's "amazing" performance. "It's going to be hard to recuperate but Emma played amazing so congratulations to Emma and her team.
“But I'm very proud of myself with the way I play these past two weeks, and especially having the crowd. The New York crowd - it's definitely been special for me to be here in the finals and having you cheering me on."

The wince that reminded us Raducanu is human

It was the reaction to the apparent sting of the antiseptic from a plaster being applied to her knee that reminded us that this was a teenager like any other.

Victory was within touching distance when Raducanu slid on her knee to leave an open cut.

The umpire was left with no choice but to temporarily halt the match for medical treatment while here wound was patched up courtside.

She had a will to win as hardened as any pro on the Tour circuit, but in that fleeting moment her response was simply to wince like any other teen would.

Her convoluted climb through the stands to celebrate

There would be no Pat Cash-style Wimbledon clamber as Raducanu was instead led on a winding route from security guards before finally getting to give her support crew to a big hug. She was initially led down a tunnel before taken out again and then backwards and forwards up the steps of the court to her crew.

Compared to Fernandez who had hordes of relatives with her, the 18-year-old had relatively few of her nearest and dearest inside the stadium.
There had not been time for family and friends to fly out to New York during her against-the-odds triumph so the hugs with mum and dad must wait.

Instead, Raducanu was greeted by Andrew Richardson, her coach, Will Herbert, her physio,
Chris Helliar, her agent, and two women, one of whom looked as surprised as she did delighted to get a cuddle from the new sporting megastar.