US Open 2021: Who is Emma Raducanu? Britain’s Emma Raducanu completed a Grand Slam fairytale on Saturday by beating Canadian Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-3 in the battle of the teens to be crowned U.S. Open champion.
The 18-year-old became the first-ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam title and the first British woman to hoist a major trophy since Virginia Wade triumphed at Wimbledon in 1977.
The first Grand Slam final — men or women — to be contested by two unseeded players was an improbable matchup that no one could have predicted, featuring 150th-ranked qualifier Raducanu and little-known Fernandez ranked 73rd.
All the more remarkable was that Raducanu’s march to the title required 10 matches, including three wins in qualifying, and she did it without dropping a single set along the way.
US Open 2021: Who is Emma Raducanu?
- 18-years-old Emma Raducanu is the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova at 2004 Wimbledon
- She is the first Qualifier ever to win a Grand Slam final in the Open era.
- Raducanu joins Pam Shriver (1978), Venus Williams (1997) and Bianca Andreescu(2019) as the fourth player to have played the final on her US Open main draw debut.
- Raducanu had made her Grand Slam debut with Wimbledon where she had advanced to round 4 but had to retire due to medical issues.
- Raducanu is a member of the LTA’s Pro Scholarship Programme, providing support – including physio, wellbeing, medical, financial, and access to the National Tennis Centre – to the best 16-24-year-old players in Britain.
- Now coached by Nigel Sears (who worked previously with Daniela Hantuchova and Ana Ivanovic), Raducanu is the only child of Romanian and Chinese parents. Born in Toronto, she has lived in south London since the age of two.
- She began in the sport at age five, but until her A-Levels in maths and economics were safely completed in April, education was her chief focus – she attended the same school as Britain’s 200m world champion Dina Asher-Smith.
- Meanwhile, she amassed three ITF titles, while dabbling in a spot of motocross and go-karting in her downtime. Before Wimbledon, her season’s earnings were barely in four figures sterling.
- * Born to a Romanian father and Chinese mother in Toronto, Canada, Raducanu moved to London aged two and started playing tennis aged five.
- * Turned professional in 2018, reaching the top 20 at the junior level.
- * Won three International Tennis Federation titles.
- * Made her WTA tournament debut at the grasscourt event in Nottingham in June 2021.
- * Came to prominence when she made her Grand Slam main draw debut at Wimbledon in July 2021. After entering the tournament as a wildcard ranked 338th in the world, she progressed to the fourth round where she retired against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic after suffering breathing difficulties.
- * Reached final of the WTA 125K event in Chicago in August 2021.
- * Qualified for the 2021 U.S. Open main draw after posting straight set wins in all three qualifying rounds.
- * Ranked 150th in the world, she became first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title. She won the U.S. Open title without dropping a set — either in qualifying or in her seven main draw matches.
- * Became the first British woman to win the U.S. Open since Virginia Wade triumphed in 1968 and the first to capture a Grand Slam title since Wade won Wimbledon in 1977.
- * Projected to move up to 24th in the world rankings on Monday after winning the U.S. Open, ending Johanna Konta’s 310-week reign as the top ranked British woman.
(with inputs from Reuters)
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