Emma Raducanu is a British professional tennis player. She’s 20 years-old. She competes on the WTA Tour. Raducanu is a major singles champion. Raducanu has been ranked as high as number 10 in the world. She played for the United Kingdom at the Billie Jean King Cup in 2022.
Emma Raducanu made her tennis debut on the International Tennis Federation Circuit at the age of 13. Her first ITF singles title came in 2016 at the Nike Junior International in Liverpool. She won two more ITF singles titles in 2017 at the Yonex ITF in Hamburg and the ITF Oslo Open. She won 4 ITF singles titles in 2018. Raducanu has a career total of 7 ITF singles titles. Raducanu continued to compete on the ITF Circuit throughout 2018 and 2019 and alternated between junior and professional level tournaments.
Emma Raducanu started competing on the WTA Tour in 2020, but the Covid-19 Pandemic caused the WTA to put a pause on the season starting in March. Many tournaments had been canceled as a result, which meant that a significantly reduced schedule did not allow Raducanu and others to get much playing time. Raducanu burst onto the scene in 2021 when she advanced to the 4th round of Wimbledon. Sadly, she had to withdraw midway through her round 4 match-up against Ajla Tomljanovic, citing fatigue and sickness as the reason for doing so. She later won the 2021 U.S. Open at the age of 18. It was her first WTA singles title. Raducanu has won 93 matches in her career and has achieved a career high ranking of number 10 in July 2022.
In September 2021, Emma Raducanu surprised the tennis world when she won the U.S. Open. Raducanu entered the tournament as a qualifier. After advancing out of the qualifier bracket, Raducanu began her title run with a first round victory over Swiss tennis player Stefani Vogele. She defeated Zhang Shuai in round two, and Sara Sorribes Tormo in the third round to advance to the 4th round of a major tournament for the 2nd time in her career. She defeated American Shelby Rogers to get to the quarterfinals. Raducanu then defeated Swiss tennis player Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals, and Greek player Maria Sakkari in the Semifinals to set up a final match vs Leylah Fernandez from Canada. It was a match-up between two teenagers. The first all-teenager match-up since the 1999 U.S. Open when Serena Williams beat Martina Hingis. Emma Raducanu won the title in straight sets. It became Raducanu’s first WTA singles title. Raducanu’s win was record-breaking in several ways. She became the youngest woman to win a major singles title since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of 17. She became the first woman to win each round of the U.S. Open without dropping a set since Serena Williams did it in 2014. Raducanu, Ranked 150th at the time, became the lowest ranked tennis player to win the U.S. Open. She became the first British woman to win the U.S. Open since Virginia Wade did it in 1968. Raducanu also became the first qualifier, male or female, to win a major singles title in the Open Era. She earned a career high ranking of number 23. This is her only WTA singles title so far.
2022 was a rather disappointing year for Raducanu. She did peak at world number 10, but injuries caused her to miss a significant number of tournaments. She finished the 2022 season ranked number 75 in the world.
Emma Raducanu played in two matches for the United Kingdom in the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup qualification round. The UK qualified for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. However, Raducanu did not participate in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals at the end of 2022, as she was still nursing a wrist injury.
In December 2022, Emma Raducanu was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). She was given the MBE distinction by King Charles III.
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