Then as now, she had a rare knack for sweetly timed service returns, in the same way that the most gifted cricketers play fast bowling with poise and grace. Across the tournament, she won an astonishing 54 per cent of her return games.
But if Raducanu’s return skills are apparently innate, her serve has never recaptured the rhythm and snap that it found that summer. In several matches, she came close to landing 80 per cent of her first serves: a figure that few players ever achieve. Her signature play – the swinging serve out wide to the opponent’s forehand, followed by a flat drive into the open court – was as simple as it was irresistible.
On the eve of the final – which would bring Raducanu up against another teenage bolter in 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez – there was a rare bump in her otherwise blissful progress.
“It was unbelievably windy on the Friday,” recalled Henman. “It was blowing 35 miles an hour, and in hindsight, they should have practised indoors. Emma practised outside, but it’s so difficult to play in those conditions.
“They finished the session, but I think she found it a bit unsettling. She had been playing so well, and then you go out before the biggest match of your life and have a terrible practice session. So I went out the next day to watch her hit before the final. I shouldn’t have worried. For about 40 minutes, she didn’t miss a ball.”
At one hour and 51 minutes, that final was comfortably Raducanu’s longest match of the tournament. The whole thing is still on YouTube, and to watch is to be reminded of the extraordinary crispness and accuracy of her play. Only on holding championship points at 5-2 in the second set did she show a hint of nerves, missing a couple of regulation groundstrokes to give Fernandez a brief respite.
One more twist remained in the narrative. As Raducanu served for the title at 5-3, a scudding backhand from Fernandez sent her scooting across the court at top speed, then sliding in a surfer’s crouch as she tried to stop. The skin came off her left knee as it scraped along the rough court surface.
A five-minute delay ensued, during which Raducanu received a bandage from the trainer and Fernandez looked close to tears as she protested against the decision to Clare Wood, the supervisor.