Wimbledon: Who's British tennis teenager Emma Raducanu?
- Published
- comments
Two months ago 18-year-old Emma Raducanu finished her A-levels, and now she's just become the only British woman to make it into the last 16 at Wimbledon this year!
Wimbledon is her first big tournament and she's now ranked 338th in the world!
Emma - ranked 338th, and playing on a show court for the first time - stunned world number 45 Sorana Cirstea by taking eight games in a row in a 6-3 7-5 win.
"I am so speechless right now," she said. "I didn't know what my reaction would be, and then that just happened. I'm so, so grateful for all the support I had today.
Emma also confessed she hadn't even brought enough kit: "I think I'm going to have to do some laundry tonight!"
So what else do we know about Emma Raducanu?
Who is Emma Raducanu?
Emma moved to Britain with her parents when she was two years old and grew up in London. She was born in Canada. Her mum is Chinese and her dad is Romanian.
She was five years old when she first tried tennis and joined the Bromley Tennis Academy.
Before that though, her dad helped her try out lots of different sports, including ballet, horse riding, swimming, basketball and even go-karting!
She is now one of 12 players on the Lawn Tennis Association's (LTA) Pro Scholarship Programme for young players and in 2018/2019 she won three International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles.
Emma has just completed A-levels in maths and economics, but will now focus on tennis full time.
"I didn't know what my reaction would be, and then that just happened. I'm so, so grateful for all the support I had today.
"This is by far the biggest court I've played on. I think I coped quite well in the beginning, I just tried to hold my nerve.
"When I was packing to come into the bubble, my parents said, 'Aren't you packing too much match kit?' I think I'm going to have to do some laundry tonight."
Emma is now the youngest British woman to reach the Wimbledon last 16 in the modern era, and will face Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic next.
- Published28 June 2021
- Published29 June 2021
- Published2 July 2021