EMMA RADUCANU

Born: 13 November 2002 (age 18)

Place: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Residence: Bromley, England

Height: 5’ 9” (1.75 m)

Plays: Right-handed (two-handed back-hand)

Turned pro: 2018

Highest/current world ranking: 150

Best Grand Slam result (before US Open 2021): Wimbledon 2021 4th round

Path to US Open 2021 final:

Qualifiers - bt. Bibiane Schoofs 6/1, 6/2; bt. Mariam Bolkvadze 6/3, 7/5; Mayar Sherif 6/1, 6/4

Main draw - bt. Stefanie Vogele 6/2, 6/3; Zhang Shuai 6/2, 6/4; Sara S. Tormo 6/0, 6/1; Shelby Rogers 6/2, 6/1; Q/F - bt. Belinda Bencic 6/3, 6/4; S/F - bt. Maria Sakkari 6/1, 6/4; Final - vs. Leylah Fernandez (today at 1.30 a.m. SL time)

[caption id="attachment_160587" align="alignnone" width="461"] Emma Raducanu, 18, last week became the first qualifier in the open era (since 1968) to reach a Grand Slam final[/caption]

“My homework is my best weapon” - those were the words of Emma Raducanu, one of the most promising youngsters in the tennis circuit today. At the time this article was written, British tennis player Emma, 18, had taken the tennis world by storm by reaching the US Open women’s singles final.

Emma did well at Wimbledon this year reaching the last 16. At the US, she had become the first qualifier in the ‘open era’ to reach a grand slam final.

Serena Williams looks as if she is coming to the final years of her glorious career. Her heir apparent Naomi Osaka has had some well-publicised struggles of her own and exited the US Open admitting she does not know when she will get back on a tennis court again.

In such a context, Emma Raducanu looks well positioned to become the next global superstar of women’s tennis.

Sports background

She comes from a sports background. Her mother is a tennis coach and her father is a former second division footballer in Spain. Therefore, she has sports in her blood, so to speak. Not only that, she has been paying attention to her studies as well.

The Kent teenager got an A-star and ‘A’ in maths and economics this summer, and was using her learning discipline. After winning her previous match she was poring over the game of her next opponent, Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo. Emma believes that the ability to properly study forthcoming challenges is as much a part of her armoury as having a shot, like her serve or backhand.

Mentally sharp

“I think everyone has their strengths in their game and one of mine is being mentally quite sharp,” she said. “My preparation is key in my game and one of my biggest weapons. It’s definitely helped me in my game and I’ll be working out a plan with my team.

“At this level, no-one really has a weakness. You can’t go for one side expecting a mistake. But there’s always some loopholes you can find and some discomforts, so that is something I try to expose. That’s what the homework hopefully highlights.”

Lessons from Wimbledon

This display of maturity is very impressive for an 18-year-old who was in school only last year. And she believes that her meticulous approach to the game will help her conquer levels which she has not been able to do before.

During her run at Wimbledon, she drew tweets of encouragement from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as well as the Prime Minister of United Kingdom Boris Johnston himself. But unfortunately, she had to concede a walkover in her last 16 match with breathing difficulties.

This is an experience she seems to have learnt from. Her run at the US Open was far smoother. Emma played more matches in New York than she did at the All England Club. However, stamina appeared less of an issue with the work she has been able to do since.

Feeling at home in US

“Wimbledon taught me how physical I had to be every single match and at the end, it was my physicality that let me down,” she said. “Having played four or five weeks, I was extremely fresh and new to the whole situation but I think, given the matches that I’ve played, I’ve been able to keep up a lot more physically and that’s definitely the biggest standout thing in my game now.

“I don’t think it’s easier to play here than Wimbledon. Playing in front of a home crowd at Wimbledon, for me, is the pinnacle. But I absolutely love it here. The States and the crowds here have made me feel at home and so welcome.” She said after her last-16 match where she defeated a higher-ranked opponent in China’s Zhang Shuai.

Growing accolades

Apart from the tweets from prominent personalities, a lot more sports personalities too have started to get on her “bandwagon”. After watching her play the first set against her opponent in the last-16 match, former British tennis superstar Tim Henman described the “bagel” first set as a “ball striking clinic”. After all, she went onto to win the set to “love”.

It was a sign of Emma’s ruthlessness that she looked disappointed not to win the match without dropping a game but she soon closed out the match 6/0, 6/1 to claim the highest-ranked scalp of her career. Former pro turned pundit, Annabel Croft, described her as the “best British prospect since Andy Murray”. No pressure there, then.

A future super star?

But nothing seems to faze her at the moment and, along with Coach Andrew Richardson, she spent plenty of time studying the game of Sorribes Tormo, before their matches, to identify weaknesses that could be exploited.

One area was hitting the ball on the rise and driving the ball wide to her opponent’s backhand and it worked a treat at the match. Her intelligence as well as her attention to detail marks her out as a future superstar of the game.

The fact that she credits her intelligence to her studies, and being not shy about professing that, is more a credit to her. In an age where the players seem to be running after money at the “drop of a hat”, her old-fashioned approach is a breath of fresh air.

Conclusion

Just in the last two weeks in this column, this writer was enunciating about these values and habits. It was therefore heartening to find that even the youngest future superstars of the game subscribing to those values.

The Sri Lankan players too need to take these to heart and stop acting as “know alls”.

At the end of the day, doing that will stop you from achieving your true and full potential.