Tennis' latest star a British darling and pride of China

NEW YORK • Already the darling of British tennis with her run to the fourth round of Wimbledon earlier this year, Emma Raducanu is now a bona fide star after swatting aside more experienced opponents and stunning the world of sport to become the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam.

"I thought Wimbledon was such an incredible experience. Fourth round, second week, I couldn't believe it. I thought, what a great achievement," she said after her US Open triumph on Saturday.

"But I was still hungry."

Just months after finishing high school, she has yet to give much thought to how radically her life is about to change, with her ranking set to rise to 23rd in the world, according to the WTA Tour.

The daughter of a Romanian father and Chinese mother and born in Toronto, Canada, Raducanu moved to London aged two and started playing tennis aged five.

Until the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the 18-year-old travelled regularly to her mum's home city of Shenyang to visit relatives and train at the Shenyang Institute of Physical Education to get away from the growing limelight, according to the Telegraph.

That is unlikely to be possible in the future even if the health crisis subsides with the teenager now feted not just in Britain but in China and beyond.

Chinese tech giant Tencent yesterday published an article with pictures of Raducanu visiting the country as a child.

"An ethnic Chinese won the US Open," it trumpeted. "She claimed that her motivation (or power) comes from her Chinese mother!"

Raducanu may be British, but she is closely connected with her Chinese side and said before her second-round victory over China's Zhang Shuai that she can speak the language, conversing with both her mum and Chinese opponents.

Her idol is also former world No. 2 Li Na, one of the greatest Asian female tennis players ever.

On the two-time Slam champion from China, Raducanu said: "Even though Li Na has retired, I've watched lots of her matches on YouTube, because she was really aggressive.

"Her movement was what impressed me the most. She was so agile and quick and very powerful. She wouldn't miss an opportunity to be aggressive."

Remarkably, Raducanu had played only one WTA-level match before Wimbledon, having spent the last 12 months combining her academic studies with tennis and finishing her A levels in May.

Her results, released last month, were just like her coach, Matt James, had predicted for a "perfectionist", scoring an A* grade in maths and an A in economics.

Her grounded nature is now set to be tested like never before on and off the court in the face of her new-found fame.

But Raducanu's Chinese influence will, hopefully, keep her rooted as she deals with the increased media attention as the first women's Slam winner from Britain in 44 years.

"My mum has always instilled a lot of the qualities, like discipline and respect for other people, into me. So I think having parents like I do, they always push me, they have high expectations, so I've always tried to live up to that," she said.

"My mum's side of the family, when I go over to China, they are so mentally resilient. It's like nothing can bring them down."

She also told Vogue magazine: "I think the confidence comes from just inner belief. My mum comes from a Chinese background, they have very good self-belief.

"It's not necessarily about telling everyone how good you are, but believing it within yourself. I respect that about the culture."

REUTERS