When Emma Raducanu entered the US Open as a qualifier in 2021– ranked 150th in the world – she reached the final without dropping a set, where she beat Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-3 to take home the Grand Slam title with a 109-mph ace. She was 18, and the first British woman to win a major singles championship since 1977.
Like other athletes, performers – or all round over-achievers – who found success early in their careers, the now-23-year-old has been consistently compared to her former self in the build up to this year’s tennis season. Predictably, this narrative only intensified when the sports star pulled out of Wimbledon due to injury just hours before her first match.
