Arriving at the US Open site in a tournament courtesy vehicle for the first time this year, Emma Raducanu was struck by the memory that hit her from last year’s last trip to Flushing Meadows — the ride to Arthur Ashe Stadium on the morning of the final against another unseeded teenager, Leylah Fernandez.

“I felt so car sick. I just blamed it on being ‘car sick,’ but I think I was a bit nervous, too,” said Raducanu, who is seeded 11th this time and will begin her title defense in against Alize Cornet at night on Tuesday.

But Raducanu bristles at the suggestion that she faces pressure now. When that word was used by a reporter at Raducanu’s pre-tournament news conference in New York, the reply was: “You guys are thinking probably more about pressure and ranking than me. I think defending a title is just something that the press makes up.”

Which brought to mind what Raducanu said after her loss at Wimbledon in June: “There’s no pressure. Like, why is there any pressure? I’m still 19. Like, it’s a joke. I literally won a Slam.”