Emma Raducanu

Raducanu was born in Toronto and moved to England with her family when she was two years old. She was raised in Bromley, London, and holds British and Canadian citizenship. Her father, Ian Raducanu, is Romanian and from Bucharest, while her mother, Renee, is Chinese and from Shenyang. Both parents work in finance, and Raducanu is an only child.

She started playing tennis at five after joining her parents at lessons and later practised regularly with her father at the Bromley Tennis Centre. She attended Bickley Primary School and Newstead Wood School in Orpington, where she achieved an A* in mathematics and an A in economics in her A-Levels. As a child, she also took part in basketball, golf, karting, motocross, skiing, horse riding and ballet.

Raducanu began competing on the ITF Junior Circuit as a 13-year-old and won the Nike Junior International in Liverpool eight days after entering the event. She became the youngest-ever winner of an ITF under-18 tournament. Her junior career included seven titles, with further victories in Hamburg, Oslo, Chandigarh, New Delhi, the Biotehnos Cup and the Šiauliai Open.

She reached the girls' singles quarterfinals at both Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018. Raducanu turned professional that year and won two ITF $15K titles. She added an ITF $25K title in Pune in 2019 and represented Great Britain as a Billie Jean King Cup hitting partner before being selected for the team's 2020 qualifying squad.

Raducanu made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Nottingham Open in June 2021. Later that month, she received a wildcard for Wimbledon and reached the fourth round in her first Grand Slam main-draw appearance. She defeated Vitalia Diatchenko, Markéta Vondroušová and Sorana Cîrstea before retiring against Ajla Tomljanović in the second set after experiencing breathing difficulties.

At 18, Raducanu became the youngest British woman in the Open Era to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon. Her run also moved her into the world's top 200. She then changed coaches from Nigel Sears to Andrew Richardson, one of her former youth coaches, before beginning her US Open campaign.

Raducanu entered the US Open as a qualifier ranked outside the top 150 and won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw. She then defeated Stefanie Vögele, Zhang Shuai, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Shelby Rogers, Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari and Leylah Fernandez. She reached the final without dropping a set.

Raducanu defeated Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the final. The victory made her the first qualifier, male or female, to win a Grand Slam tournament in the Open Era, and the first British woman to win a major singles title since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977. She rose to world No. 23, became the British No. 1 and finished the season ranked No. 19.

Raducanu reached the world's top 10 in July 2022, but injuries affected much of the following season. In 2023, recurring problems in both wrists and her ankle led to surgery and caused her to miss the French Open and Wimbledon. She returned to competition in January 2024 and reached the semifinals at Nottingham, as well as the quarterfinals at Stuttgart, Eastbourne, Washington and Seoul.

In 2024, Raducanu recorded her first top-10 wins against Jessica Pegula at Eastbourne and Maria Sakkari at Wimbledon. In 2025, she reached her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal at the Miami Open, defeating Emma Navarro and Amanda Anisimova before losing to Jessica Pegula. She also reached the semifinals at the Washington Open and returned to the US Open third round. In 2026, she reached the finals at the Transylvania Open and the Queen's Club Championships.

Raducanu is an aggressive baseline player who takes the ball early and redirects pace down the line. Her two-handed backhand is regarded as a major strength, while her forehand and return of serve allow her to attack from the back of the court. She prefers hard courts and identifies the forehand as her favourite shot.

Her 2021 breakthrough brought several major honours. She was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year, won BBC Sports Personality of the Year and received the Laureus World Sports Award for Breakthrough of the Year. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to tennis.