10 Things to Know About Tennis Star Emma Raducanu

Born on 13 Nov. 2002, Raducanu is a strong, passionate, and confident Scorpio. Lots of athletes share the same sign including Caitlyn Jenner and Devin Booker, which makes sense because Scorpio is said to be the most resilient and hardworking sign. We can definitely see the Scorpio in Raducanu!

Any internationally ranked tennis player can sign up to play at Wimbledon, but only the top 104 participants are selected to compete along with an additional 16 players, who first have to earn their spot by winning three rounds in qualifying. Raducanu went into Wimbledon 2021 ranked 338th in the world, so how did she score a spot on one of the biggest stages in tennis? She was one of the seven women players to be awarded a wild card, meaning she was a shoo-in for the main draw. It was only her second Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour appearance. Even though she retired from the tournament early, it's still an impressive feat.

Raducanu is often praised for her composure and the calm and humble nature in which she handles herself. Although she has listed Andy Murray and Serena Williams among the people that inspire her in the game, it is ex-professional Chinese player Li Na who inspires her mentally.

After a match at theUS Open in 2021, Raducanu said: "I think for me when I was younger I would take a lot of inspiration from Li Na, even now just the way she was such a fierce competitor. I think all her belief, she had extremely good weapons, her movement, her mentality, but her inner strength and belief really stood out for me. I remember watching her play Schiavone in French Open final. That was definitely a long, tough match. But the amount of mental strength and resilience she showed, that match still sticks in my head today."

"The way that I'm approaching my matches is each time I'm thinking to myself, 'Why not?' Like today, I was like, 'Someone has to be in the second week, why not me?'" Raducanu said during her 2021 Wimbledon run. "I'm just trying to stay here as long as possible."

Raducanu's need for speed didn't end with motocross — she's also a devoted fan of Formula One racing, even taking in a race from her room at Wimbledon last year. In fact, she draws inspiration from the sport, though it's very different from her own.

"As tennis players, we can learn a lot from [the drivers'] reactions — you have to see everything so fast because the speeds that they're going at are unbelievable. Those reactions and instincts can relate a lot to tennis," she said during an interview at the 2020 UK Pro Classic. "The intensity of the focus is also similar and transferrable, but tennis is a lot more luxurious — if you make a mistake it's not the end of the world but in F1 if you make a mistake, you're in the wall."

Raducanu has previously had a personal connection to fellow British tennis player Andy Murray: his father-in-law was her personal trainer! Nigel Sears — whose daughter Kim Sears shares four kids with Murray — worked with Raducanu on and off until 2021.

"Quite frankly, I think the sky's the limit," Sears said in an interview when asked about Raducanu's talent. "She has the necessary qualities and she's hungry enough and eager to learn. She's ambitious and given the right opportunities and match experience, she'll make good progress." Murray has also publicly supported Raducanu, specifically when she received criticism for stepping down from her Wimbledon match after suffering from a panic attack.

Raducanu even said in her Elle UK interview that her dream would be to play doubles with Murray one day. Watch this space!

Raducanu is a Spurs fan, revealing in 2021 that Harry Kane inspired her decision. After rocking a Tottenham Hotspur shirt on the practise courts of at the Porsche Arena, she said: "My whole team basically are big Spurs fans and I feel like they're egging me on. They're desperately trying to get me behind them. I don't necessarily follow football so much, but I feel like now because of them I'm feeling some sort of connection."

The tennis champion went on to say that she "loved following the Euros [in 2021] and watching Harry Kane, who's obviously the England captain, and, I'm a big fan of him as well. So yeah, I like to dabble."

Despite her young age, Raducanu has proved she is wise beyond her years. Knowing when her mental health is suffering, she has spoken of the pressure she felt after her groundbreaking US Open win. ""I very much attach my self-worth to my achievements. If I lost a match I would be really down, I would have a day of mourning, literally staring at the wall. I feel things so passionately and intensely," she told ESPN.

The struggle to hide her real feelings became too much, and so she chose to be transparent about the competitive nature of sport. "I was under so much pressure to perform, people had no idea what was going on and I had to have this façade, to keep everything inside. It has been really hard," she added. "And then to be scrutinised for it when they don't know what is going on. I am very young and still learning and making mistakes. It is a lot harder when you are making mistakes in front of everyone, and everyone has something to say about it."