Among the many delightful comments from 18-year-old Emma Raducanu in the immediate aftermath of her third round win over Sorana Cirstea on No.1 Court, there lay this throwaway gem: “I think I coped quite well.”
Ya think?
Maybe somebody, somewhere was forecasting a week ago that the world No.338 – the lowest-ranked player in the entire women’s draw – would become the youngest British woman to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since 1959. But funnily enough, that person has yet to be found.
Having played (and lost, to Harriet Dart in Nottingham) her only previous WTA-level match just a month ago, the wild card has yet to drop a set this Fortnight.
On the cavernous stage of No.1 Court on Saturday, she blithely put 30 winners past the world No.45 Cirstea, and will face Australia’s No.2 Ajla Tomljanovic for a place in the last eight.
Tracy Austin, who won the US Open in 1979 as a 16-year-old and again two years later, is duly impressed.
“Emma is fearless, an incredible competitor,” she observed. “She has a great head on her shoulders and seems very grounded. She has the defence, the offence, the even-keeled temperament, seeming to have the right level of engagement and clarity of how she wants to play.
"She’s still going to be ranked outside the world top 200, and it’s not going to be easy. But we’ve talked about how wide open the tournament is. Tomljanovic hasn’t been this deep in a Slam. If you can beat Cirstea… you can beat Tomljanovic.”
In fact Raducanu is projected a guaranteed rise to No.175, with a bounce into the high 130s if she can get past Tomljanovic – who actually has indeed reached the fourth round of a Slam before, at Roland-Garros in 2014 before a series of injuries began plaguing her.
But this is the world No.75’s best Wimbledon to date and she has the support of her boyfriend, No.7 seed Matteo Berrettini here. (Having secured his own passage into the fourth round on Saturday, he could be seen cantering over to Court 15 to cheer on Tomljanovic’s defeat of Jelena Ostapenko.)
Anyone in the British tennis loop has been wise to Raducanu’s potential for a long time. She is a member of the LTA’s Pro Scholarship Programme, providing support – including physio, wellbeing, medical, financial, and access to the National Tennis Centre – to the best 16-24-year-old players in Britain.
Now coached by Nigel Sears (who worked previously with Daniela Hantuchova and Ana Ivanovic), Raducanu is the only child of Romanian and Chinese parents. Born in Toronto, she has lived in south London since the age of two.
Hers was not a hothouse tennis childhood. She began in the sport at age five, but until her A Levels in maths and economics were safely completed in April, education was her chief focus – she attended the same school as Britain’s 200m world champion Dina Asher-Smith.
Meanwhile, she amassed three ITF titles, while dabbling in a spot of motocross and go-karting in her downtime. Before Wimbledon, her season’s earnings were barely in four figures sterling. Now her bank balance will increase by at least £181,000.
“I have to be the best, do the best I can,” she said with her ready grin last year. “My parents definitely have high expectations – in anything, not just tennis.
"When I was younger it was to please them, but now I actually realise it's great for me to do it on my own. That's where I think I see the best results, when it's me driving it.”
Nnow, her youthful inexperience is in a sense an ironic weapon towards maintaining her match cool. Unlike Tomljanovic, Raducanu has quite naturally yet to learn firsthand how much is at stake, and that competitive life is rarely a matter of linear non-stop progression.Many an excellent player has never gone beyond the fourth round of a Slam; indeed, the No.2 seed here Aryna Sabalenka is one of them.
But those who have seen Raducanu’s development believe she has the potential to be the real deal.
“She’s very self-possessed, has very high standards for herself – and she looks like she belongs,” notes BBC commentator and former British No.1 Andrew Castle.
“That’s not just based upon the winning, but the way she hits the ball and moves around the court, the way she works off the court. Does she look like somebody who has what’s required to go ahead and push up the rankings? She does.”
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