Emma Raducanu is a 19 year old teenage tennis player who’s recently impressed by getting through qualifying for the upcoming U.S. Open, in addition to her 2015 Wimbledon Junior win. The Brit is now in the quarterfinals of the WTA NextGen tournament, and it looks like the teenager has a good chance of getting to the semifinals at Flushing Meadows.
“I just want to keep getting better every day. I want to keep improving, I want to keep getting better, I want to keep learning more. I want to keep getting better. I want to keep getting better at my tennis. I think that’s my biggest thing.” -Emma Raducanu, who has broken into the world’s top 50 for the first time.
Emma Raducanu is a dashing young talent from the UK who’s definitely worth getting to know, as he’s made his way to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open.
NEW YORK (WABC) — A modest commemoration of two of Britain’s best ladies tennis players took place at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon. One is an 18-year-old sensation whose forehand rippers have the UK — and the rest of the globe — captivated. The other is a 76-year-old great and former US Open winner who stood by and watched the newcomer seize the country’s mantle.
Virginia Wade, the last British woman to win a major, the Wimbledon championship in 1977, cheered on Emma Raducanu as she bludgeoned forehand wins against American Shelby Rogers.
Raducanu waved to Wade during the on-court interview after her dominant 6-2 6-1 win against Rogers, saying, “You’re an absolute icon, so I’m very pleased to have had you here.” She dashed up to the Presidential Suite after the interview to thank Wade for coming before the press conferences overwhelmed her.
“She’s going to win Grand Slams,” Wade remarked after the match to ESPN.
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Raducanu has had the most straightforward route to the main draw of the three 18-year-olds who have made a big impact at this year’s US Open (Leylah Fernandez turned 19 on Monday), losing just 15 games throughout the whole event. She, like Fernandez and Carlos Alcaraz, had to play three qualifiers in order to qualify for the main draw. But she’s remained unfazed since then, never dropping a set, much alone a match. She began the year as the world’s No. 338 player. She’s now expected to reach No. 100.
Belinda Bencic, who won the Olympic gold medal and has won 13 of her last 14 matches dating back to the start of her championship run at the Olympics, will most likely be her toughest opponent in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
“I’m shocked that I’m here,” Raducanu remarked after the match at a press conference. “I didn’t anticipate it — I knew I was putting in a lot of effort that will pay off eventually, but you never know when.”
Raducanu, who was born in Canada to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother and relocated to London when she was two years old, attributes her strong work ethic to her parents.
She remarked this year at Wimbledon, “They come from extremely hard-working nations.”
Emma Raducanu achieved her dream when she stated she wanted to play in the US Open quarterfinals with 18-year-old Carlos Alcaraz and 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez. Getty Images/TPN
Raducanu, who began playing tennis at the age of five, chose two players from her parents’ nations as her idols: Romanian Simona Halep and Chinese Li Na. She wanted to move like Halep, so she imitated Na’s forceful strokes.
In July 2024, Raducanu told the Lawn Tennis Association, “[Na] went for everything and she was also extremely athletic in a more aggressive manner.” “Her attitude appealed to me, and she never complained. That’s the kind of person I want to be.”
Raducanu had a breakout season on the junior circuit in 2018, ranking No. 20 for the first time in his career. Both the Wimbledon Juniors and the US Open Juniors saw her reach the quarterfinals.
She finished her A-level examinations (equivalent to AP exams in the United States) concentrated on her studies a month before making her WTA Tour main draw debut in June 2024. She unexpectedly advanced to the main draw at Wimbledon, where she became the youngest British woman to reach the Round of 16 in the Open era, stunning 2019 French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the second round. She remained unbeatable until the fourth round, when she was forced to withdraw due to a panic attack in the second set against Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia.
She arrived at New York two weeks ahead of most of her opponents after regrouping, moving from qualifying on empty side courts to her first singles match in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday. With each match, she seemed to gain more control and confidence. She had to overcome jitters in the first set of her match against Rogers, but once she did, she was unstoppable, winning 11 consecutive games after falling down 0-2 in the first.
“You don’t know enough to make it complex in your mind — you’re there for the experience and you want to remain in your lane and maintain all the same routines you’ve been doing,” ESPN commentator Pam Shriver, who reached the 1978 US Open final as a 16-year-old amateur, said.
Raducanu is just 18, but she has a tremendous game, according to Shriver.
“At the court, I was very shocked by the pop on her serve — you can really see and feel the speed of it, and I was like, ‘Wow, 111 [mph], and she’s 18 and she doesn’t seem like she can serve 111 [mph],’” Shriver recalled.
Wade noted that she is already a well-rounded player at her age.
“She excels in every aspect of her job. She serves beautifully, has incredible ground strokes, is very focused, and is physically powerful — she truly has it all “After the game, Wade told ESPN.
Shriver was impressed by Raducanu’s calm demeanor throughout the event, both on and off the court.
Shriver remarked, “She has a grounded presence and catches up on small things really fast.”
After her defeat against Emma Raducanu, Shelby Rogers, right, stated that tennis is “in excellent hands” with the future generation. EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/JOHN G MABANGLO
Despite the fact that Raducanu played American fan favorite Rogers on Arthur Ashe, she has yet to experience a huge moment like Fernandez or Alcaraz had this week when they defeated Naomi Osaka and Stefanos Tsitsipas. She had a favorable draw, as she was scheduled to face world No. 13 Jennifer Brady in the first round until Brady withdrew from the competition. Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, an unseeded player, was her opponent. And she faced Rogers in the fourth round, who didn’t have much left in the tank after a two-hour fight with No. 1 Ash Barty on Saturday and a doubles defeat on Sunday.
Raducanu may win Wednesday’s match against Bencic, according to Shriver, because of her momentum.
“You’d think Bencic, with the gold medal, would start as the favorite,” she said. “But I discovered in ’78 that once you get on the roll here and you’re a teenager and you just soak it up, it’s really simple to have the momentum keep you going.”
Raducanu said she was confident in her serve and general game heading into the quarterfinals, but she expects it to be a “very tough match.”
“I’m going to have to play some very excellent tennis if I’m going to have a chance,” she remarked.
One of the greatest stories leading up to the start of this year’s US Open was the absence of the tournament’s top players, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams. However, the plot has been changed in only a week: it now revolves around the new generation of tennis players who have stunned the world with their consistency and poise.
Raducanu stated that seeing the other two 18-year-olds inspired her to push herself to “join them.”
Rogers stated after her defeat against Raducanu, “That’s the future generation of our sport, and it’s in excellent hands.”
British teen Emma Raducanu has gotten to this place by working hard and getting what she wants. The 18-year-old has been using her youthful exuberance and her impressive mental and physical skill set to win matches and make it into the US Open quarterfinals for the second time in her career. (She did that in 2016, too, but the last time she did it, she had to work harder than she did this year.). Read more about emma raducanu siblings and let us know what you think.
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