I wouldn't say that she fluked the US Open, but everything went her way. She came into qualifying, played out of her skin, and her confidence just grew and grew. I've played most of the big sports in my life (with tennis and cricket being the two I've ever particularly excelled at), and tennis is the most mental game out there. If you're confident, it feels like the easiest thing in the world. If something goes, everything goes.
The greats aren't significantly different to any other top 100 player technically. But they've got something in them that allows them to control their emotions to an almost inhuman extent. When everything went Emma's way, she hit better than anyone. Now she's not, and she's lost confidence, isn't driving through balls, and has therefore lost both power and control and seems to be spiralling.
That US Open win was a freak event. Not because Emma is less technically proficient than other players, but because everything conspired to maximise her confidence. She's now in a position where she needs to really decide whether she wants to work - really hard - to get her head to where it needs to be for sustained success, or whether she's happy being average and hoping for another freak win.
