Emma Raducanu is the WTA World #30 and the 2021 US Open champion, a result so improbable that it reshaped how the tennis world thinks about what is possible. She won the tournament as a qualifier, winning ten matches without dropping a set, a feat never accomplished before in the Open Era. She was 18 years old. Born in Toronto to a Romanian father and Chinese mother, she grew up in Bromley, Kent, and was ranked outside the top 300 when she arrived in New York that September.
The years following that triumph have been defined by the brutal difficulty of sustaining a career after an early peak. Injuries disrupted her momentum. Coaching changes created instability. The expectations generated by a Grand Slam title at 18 produced a level of public scrutiny that few athletes at any level of sport have to navigate so young. She has spoken honestly about the challenges of that period, and her willingness to discuss the gap between the fairy tale narrative and the daily reality of professional tennis has been one of the more refreshing perspectives on tour.
Raducanu’s game, when it is firing, is built on speed of racket and speed of thought. She takes the ball early, plays inside the baseline, and moves through the ball with a flat, penetrating strike that rushes opponents. Her shot selection is sharp and she reads the game with an intelligence that reflects her academic ability: she achieved A-levels in maths and economics while competing on the junior circuit. The challenge has been reproducing that level consistently, match after match, tournament after tournament, while managing the physical demands that her aggressive style places on her body.
Her ranking of World #30 represents a rebuilding that is still in progress. The talent that produced that US Open run has not disappeared. What Raducanu is building now is the physical foundation and competitive resilience to access it regularly rather than occasionally.
Raducanu will compete at the 2026 Grand Slams: the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Check United Kingdom time to convert match schedules.