Emma Raducanu's lost AirPods served as motivation to win in New York

Three weeks ago, Emma Raducanu began her campaign in the US Open's qualifying and no one could have expected that by the end of the tournament she would become the queen of New York. After 19 days, the 18-year-old claimed 10 consecutive matches and 20 sets in a row to win her first Grand Slam title and became the first ever qualifier to win a major.

What was her motivation to win? Turns out she really just wanted to be able to buy herself a new pair of AirPods.

"There's a running joke on my team because my first-round qualifying match I lost my AirPods, and I was basically running around the training room for like three minutes before my call to go on trying to find it," Raducanu said during her interview in the ESPN booth. "But, I lost it and I was thinking to myself, 'you know what if you win this match, you can buy yourself a pair of AirPods.'"

The Brit should have no problem at all treating herself to a pair of fresh AirPods after picking up a nice $2.5 million dollar check on Saturday. ESPN analyst, Chris Mckendry made sure to point out that her earphones situation was the first time she actually sounded her age.

"You know when you said you lost your AirPods, it was the first time you sounded like an 18-year-old for the last three weeks. That is so typical," Mckendry said laughingly.

That sure is true. Raducanu's entire fortnight required her to be calm under pressure, play freely and overcome adversity all which take maturity and immense mental strength. Playing in her first Grand Slam final, she did her best to remove the occasion out of it but did experience nerves before heading on court. However, once she stepped foot on Arthur Ashe that quickly dissipated.

"From the first point, I thought business as usual and I didn't feel there were any additional nerves during the match," she said.

Not many knew who she was when she first came to New York, but now she's already garnished 1.4 million followers on Instagram after her captivating story. She took out fellow teen, Leylah Fernandez in the final round and it marked the first all-teen major final since 1999.

Cheers to new AirPods!