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NEW YORK -- Fiona Crawley has felt at home here at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center for the past week.
The San Antonio native has been embraced by the crowds at the U.S. Open. She roared through three qualifying wins while shouting “Come on!” and “let’s go!” to herself and to get the crowd riled up.
“I try to put on a show and entertain,” she said with a smile on Tuesday night.
But even though New York City has felt like home, she truly felt at home moments after her first-round loss Tuesday night to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Court 13.
Following the 6-2, 6-4 defeat, Crawley glimpsed something that immediately put a smile on her face.
“I saw a girl wearing an Alamo Heights hat, and her Mom had a Mules shirt on, and that was really cool,” Crawley said, referring to her high school and their mascot. “I feel so much support from everyone at home. Makes me want to work harder and get better and come back here and win the U.S. Open.”
Whether that happens or not is unknowable, But Crawley gave every indication on Tuesday night that the pro future she once thought near-impossible might not be so unattainable. She revealed Tuesday night that she told people several months ago she wanted to go on the pro tour for a year or two “get my butt kicked, then come home and be a teacher.”
Crawlet faced the veteran Pavlyuchenkova, who was the 2021 French Open runner-up and was once ranked as high as No.11 in the WTA rankings, and she got off to a slow start, trailing 3-0.
But flanked by her college coaches and dozens of fans from the University of North Carolina, where she has starred for three seasons, the 21-year-old began to get it together. She won two games in a row, and then after dropping the first set, steadied herself.
Crawley began dictating the rallies more and flashed her strong serve on a few occasions; for the match Crawley made 69% of her first serves, and she managed to break the Russian veteran three times.
“She’s an incredible ball-striker; her forehand when she gets pulled out wide is truly a thing of beauty,” Crawley said. “But I was able to calm myself a little and start getting more confidence [in the second set].”
Crawley quickly jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second, then broke again to go up 4-2, as the crowd roared and she pumped her fists. For a while it looked like the match would be headed to a third set.
But Crawley has admitted that paradoxically, she often lacks faith in herself when she’s ahead -- she feels she does better when she’s trailing. Pavlyuchenkova quickly broke back to 4-all, and then broke again to finish the match out.
Still, it was a whirlwind week for Crawley, winning three qualifying matches just to get into the main draw for the first time. She became the first active UNC women’s player to play in a Slam main draw. She acquitted herself well when she got there.
She seemed awestruck and yet right at home, marveling at how cool it was to see veteran pro Alize Cornet in the player dining area Tuesday. “She’s one of my idols!” she said.
She teared up again when someone told her that Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina had complimented her earlier in the day.
“That seriously makes me so emotional, to know that she did that, because I’ve looked up to these girls my whole life,” Crawley said. “When [Cornet] beat me in Charleston this year I wanted to ask for her autograph. So to feel supported by them, it’s really incredible.”