Emma Raducanu: The US Open Miracle and Everything That Came After

Nobody had a plan for Emma Raducanu at the 2021 US Open. She arrived in New York as an 18-year-old qualifier ranked 150th in the world, with exactly one Grand Slam main draw behind her. Three weeks later she left as champion, without dropping a single set.

Ten matches, twenty sets, zero sets lost: qualifying rounds to trophy. She remains the only qualifier, man or woman, to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open Era. What happened next has been harder, messier and more human, and in 2026 it has included both her best results in years and another painful injury.

Who Is Emma Raducanu?

Emma Raducanu was born on 13 November 2002 in Toronto, Canada, to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother. The family moved to England when she was two, and she grew up in Bromley, south-east London. She did well at school alongside her tennis, sitting her A-levels just months before her Grand Slam breakthrough.

She plays an aggressive, early-ball baseline game. Her movement is quick and low, and her two-handed backhand, hit flat and through the ball, is her most reliable shot. On her best days she takes the ball so early that opponents simply run out of time.

Summer 2021: From Wimbledon Wild Card to Grand Slam Champion

Her first Grand Slam was Wimbledon 2021, as a wild card ranked outside the top 300. She reached the fourth round, then retired from that match with breathing difficulties. It was a glimpse of what was coming.

At the US Open, working with Andrew Richardson, a coach she had known since childhood, she won three qualifying matches and then seven main-draw matches. Along the way she beat the Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in the quarter-finals and Maria Sakkari in the semi-finals. The final was a teenage dream: Raducanu against 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez. Raducanu won 6-4, 6-3, finishing with an ace.

Her ranking jumped from 150 to 23 overnight. She became a household name in Britain, won BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and was appointed MBE.

The Hard Part

What came next is a story tennis has seen before, but rarely at such speed. Expectations were enormous. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 10 in July 2022, but injuries kept interrupting her progress, and she changed coaches often as she looked for the right fit.

In 2023 she had surgery on both wrists and on an ankle, and she missed most of the season. She came back in 2024 and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon again, with her first wins over top-ten players. In 2025 she reached the quarter-finals at the Miami Open and the semi-finals in Washington, and she started working with experienced Spanish coach Francisco Roig. Her season was cut short in October by illness.

The Coaching Carousel

Raducanu's coaching changes have attracted almost as much attention as her tennis. After the 2021 US Open she split with Andrew Richardson and hired Germany's Torben Beltz, then worked with Dmitry Tursunov in 2022 and Sebastian Sachs in 2023. Nick Cavaday coached her through her 2024 comeback until early 2025, and Francisco Roig joined in the summer of 2025.

It is easy to criticise. But she was a teenager when she won a Grand Slam, and she was still working out what kind of player she wanted to be. Many players go through several coaches in their early twenties. Hers simply happened in public, with a nation watching.

Playing Style

Raducanu is at her best when she plays on the front foot. She stands close to the baseline, takes the ball on the rise and redirects pace, especially with her backhand down the line. Her return of serve is a real strength, and she moves low and fast. The areas she has worked on most are her serve, which can be vulnerable under pressure, and her physical robustness over long seasons.

2026: Finals at Last, Then Another Setback

This has been Raducanu's most eventful season since 2021.

• Australian Open: second round. She and Roig parted ways afterwards.
• Transylvania Open, Cluj (February): she reached her first WTA final since the US Open, losing to Romania's Sorana Cirstea in the country of her father's birth.
• Queen's Club (June): she reached the final on home soil in London, losing to Donna Vekic. It was her best grass-court result.
• Then the injury. A stress fracture in her lower right leg forced her out of Wimbledon, and in early August she withdrew from the US Open as well.

Along the way she reunited with Andrew Richardson, the coach of her 2021 triumph, having also worked informally with Mark Petchey after the split with Roig. As of September 2026 she is ranked around No. 70, and there are doubts about whether she will play again this season.

Beyond the Court

Raducanu remains one of the most marketable players in the world. She has worked with brands including Dior, Tiffany & Co., British Airways, HSBC and Evian, and uses Wilson rackets. Her partnerships with Porsche and Vodafone ended in 2025.

Her official prize money stands at about $6.6 million, a large share of it from that single US Open, which paid $2.5 million to the champion. Her sponsorship income is widely reported to be much larger than her prize money, although the values of her deals are not public. For context, see our guide to how much tennis players earn.

Why She Is Still Worth Watching

It is easy to call Raducanu a one-hit wonder. It is also wrong. Nobody wins ten matches in a row at a Grand Slam without dropping a set by luck. The talent that won New York is still there, and in 2026 it produced two finals on two different surfaces.

The real questions are about her body and her schedule. If she can stay healthy for a full season, the level she showed in Cluj and at Queen's suggests she can climb back towards the top 20. She turns 24 in November. Her story is not finished.

Quick Facts

• Full name: Emma Raducanu
• Born: 13 November 2002, Toronto, Canada
• Nationality: British
• Plays: right-handed, two-handed backhand
• Grand Slam titles: 1 (2021 US Open, as a qualifier)
• WTA titles: 1
• Career-high ranking: No. 10 (July 2022)
• 2026 finals: Transylvania Open (runner-up), Queen's Club (runner-up)
• Coach: Andrew Richardson (reunited in 2026)
• Racket: Wilson