British tennis star Emma Raducanu has been struggling to get back on the court as of late due to persistent injuries, resulting in her losing her British No.1 ranking.
Katie Boulter, 26, has moved up in the rankings following her victory over Swiss tennis star Victoria Golubic, 30, at the French Open on Friday, June 9.
Raducanu, 20, will not feature at Wimbledon this year and may not return until 2024 after undergoing three surgeries on three different injuries – meaning she will not be able to reclaim the top spot for quite some time.
Raducanu rose to fame when she was just 18 years old when she became the first qualifier ever to win a Grand Slam at the US Open in 2021. She was also the first British woman to win a major since Virginia Wade in 1977.
Her win catapulted her to the top spot in British tennis, as well as seeing her world ranking leap from number 150 to inside the top 30.
It came just a few months after she made her mark at Wimbledon, reaching the final 16 before making a heartbreaking early exit from the competition when breathing difficulties forced her to withdraw from her match against Ajla Tomljanovic.
There is still plenty of time for the young Raducanu to continue to build her legacy on the court if she can overcome her injury concerns – so, let’s take a closer look at the British star’s life off the court…
Where is Emma Raducanu from and who are her parents?
Raducanu is from Bromley, in south-east London.
She was born in Canada to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother before moving to the UK aged two.
She also has fond ties to Romania through her grandmother, who she has spoken about in interviews before.
Emma previously told The Independent: ‘My grandma, Mamiya, still lives in central Bucharest. I go back a couple times a year, stay with her, see her.
‘It’s really nice. I love the food, to be honest. I mean, the food is unbelievable. And my grandma’s cooking is also something special. I do have ties to Bucharest.’
Where did Emma Raducanu go to school and what did she study?
Raducanu attended Bickley Primary School before going to Newstead Wood School, a selective grammar school in Orpington.
In the same year that she won the US Open, Raducanu also completed her A-Levels, where she achieved an A* in mathematics and an A in economics.
Raducanu has cited Simona Halep and Li Na as her sporting inspirations.
‘I want to be athletic like Halep. I feel like I’ve got quite a good base right now but a lot to improve on and also Li Na – I’m a massive fan of her game’ she told the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA)
‘She’s got such powerful strokes. She went for everything and also she was very athletic in a more aggressive way. I loved her mentality, she never complained. That’s something I aspire to be like.’
She proved particularly effective combining tennis with her schooling after turning pro in 2018, having previously made it to the 2018 juniors quarter-finals where she competed against future French Open winner Iga Swiatek.
She also won the first ITF junior title she was allowed to compete in, aged just 13.
Who has coached Emma Raducanu?
Over the last two years, the Tennis star has struggled with form and injury and has not won a second title since that fairytale in New York amid various coaching changes.
She is currently seeking her sixth coach in two years after parting ways with Sebastian Sachs on June 1, 2023.
Raducanu had been working with the German coach Sachs for less than six months and turned to him after parting ways with Russian Dmitry Tursunov.
Raducanu had previously been coached by the highly-rated Torben Beltz, who she teamed up with after she won the US Open with Andrew Richardson.
Her first coach was Andy Murray’s father-in-law Nigel Sears – who was working with her when she made her breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2021.
MORE : Emma Raducanu’s ex-coach Sebastian Sachs breaks silence after news of split
MORE : Tim Henman makes prediction for blockbuster French Open semi-final
Follow Metro across our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Share your views in the comments below.
var notifyQ = function () { var i = 0, l = awaitingReady.length; for (i = 0; i
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.