Despite loss, Emma Raducanu is tennis’ latest teen phenom

Emma Raducanu is the latest in a line of teenage tennis stars to have taken a Grand Slam by storm.

While Coco Gauff made a run at Wimbledon this week, Raducanu was busy making a run of her own. At 18-years-old, Raducanu is the youngest British women’s player to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon in the Open era. 

She earned her first-ever Top 100 win in the second round, defeating former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova. She then shocked world No. 45 Sorana Cirstea to reach the fourth round.

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Her spectacular run came to an end in the fourth round against Ajla Tomljanovic, as Raducanu had to retire due to difficulty breathing. She tweeted a statement Tuesday, saying that the “whole experience caught up” with her. 

“Although it felt like the hardest thing in the world not to be able to finish my Wimbledon on the court, I was not well enough to carry on,” she continued.

thank you for the support❤️ pic.twitter.com/C47TTvOQK9

— Emma Raducanu (@EmmaRaducanu) July 6, 2021

Despite the exit, Raducanu’s rise has put the tennis world on notice. With only a couple of thousand Instagram followers prior to the tournament, she now has 302,000 followers and was even locked out of her Twitter account due the significant rise in followers. 

Expect Raducanu’s world ranking to rise as well, as she was ranked No. 338 before the start of the tournament.