KATE’S AT THE COURT OF QUEEN EMMA

Royal wows new star with ‘incredible forehand’

IT was the day when the queen of the court met the future Queen.

And if new US Open champion Emma Raducanu thought the Duchess of Cambridge would be a pushover, the royal soon proved her mettle.

The 18-year-old tennis prodigy declared that she was ‘very impressed’, adding: ‘Her forehand was incredible!’

The pair met at an official ‘homecoming’ organised by the Lawn Tennis Association yesterday following Miss Raducanu’s historic victory at Flushing Meadows in New York earlier this month.

Alongside her at their base in Roehe hampton, south-west London, were three other British success stories: Joe Salisbury – who won in the doubles pairing at the US Open – and doubles players Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid, silver medalists at the Tokyo Paralympics.

Kate, 39, who is patron of the LTA, is tennis-mad and a pretty handy player to boot. The knock-about started with Sam Richardson, the LTA head of programmes, telling the group not to be too competitive. ‘How many Grand Slam titles have we got on the court?’

joked. But his plea for them to take it easy was quickly forgotten as the duchess and Miss Raducanu played against the wheelchair pair.

‘It’s getting competitive already!’ Mr Richardson said after one scorching rally.

Both Kate and Emma had some impressive kit for their matches. The teenager used a Wilson racket and wore Nike from top to toe, including a £107 pair of trainers and a top that is not yet available for the general public to buy.

Meanwhile, the duchess went with a Babolat racket. She sported a Poivre Blanc top (£90) and skirt (£65) as well as £130 ‘The Roger’ trainers, designed by Roger Federer, who by coincidence happens to be a good friend of the Middleton family.

Federer is known to have faced the duchess across the court privately and was even said to have challenged her husband, Prince William, to a game of table tennis at Pippa Middleton’s wedding.

Yesterday, as the five played in various different combinations, the tennis became fast and furious, with some long rallies.

When it was Miss Raducanu’s turn to sit out she took it upon herself to be the ballgirl instead. ‘My new job!’ she laughed. ‘I always wanted to be a ballgirl.’

EMMA RADUCANU has shown her ruthless side by ditching coach Andrew Richardson, who helped her to US Open glory. The 18-year-old wants a coach with more experience at the top level of tennis. Richardson, the former British davis cup player, emerged from relative obscurity to guide her through her American odyssey. But just as nigel Sears was disposed of after her breakthrough at Wimbledon, now Richardson is out. ‘I just realised I need someone right now that has had experience at the high levels,’ said Raducanu.