Her triumph was a milestone in the history of women’s tennis. A sensational winning streak in New York in the summer of 2021 had made her the first ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam.
New York, 11 September 2021, Arthur Ashe Stadium: two teenagers – Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez – are standing in the final of the US Open. It was something the tennis world last experienced in 1999 when Serena Williams secured the last Grand Slam title of the year by beating Martina Hingis. On the road to her sensational victory, Emma Raducanu, only 18-years old like her opponent, ousted Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals and Maria Sakkari in the penultimate round – both were Top 20 players at the time. The Briton was then also highly impressive when winning the final. She did not lose a single set in the whole tournament.
“I have no doubt your outstanding performance will inspire the next generation of tennis players,” wrote the Queen when congratulating her in the night. The great Martina Navratilova tweeted: “A star is born.”
The first British woman to win a Grand Slam since Virginia Wade in 1977 was born in Toronto, Canada on 13 November 2002. Aged two, she moved with her parents – her father comes from Romania, her mother from China – to London where she took up tennis at the age of five in the borough of Bromley. She was allowed to compete in U-18 ITF tournaments after turning 13, and promptly won the Nike Junior International in Liverpool just eight days later. She was therefore the youngest tournament winner in ITF history. Her parents, both work in the financial sector, attached great importance to a good school education right from the start. Emma therefore practiced before going to school in her uniform and late on in the afternoon, also in winter when it was cold in England and got dark early. The floodlights did not always work.
“The dreams that kept me going back then were to win Grand Slams and to play at Wimbledon,” she relates. As the world No. 338 in 2021, she went all the way to the last 16 at Wimbledon after being given a wild card. Just previously, she had passed her A-Level exams at the Newstead Wood School with top grades in maths and economics. She then fulfilled her dreams by sensationally winning the US Open. “I feel very proud of myself,” she says, “But I’m obviously setting myself new goals now. For me, it’s about continuous improvement and getting better and just trying to learn and experience new things.”
Emma Raducanu stands for a new generation of successful young players on the way to the top of women’s tennis. After her gala performance at the US Open, she became the youngest woman ever to be named a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to tennis. The Grand Slam champion, a car and motorsports lover as a child and a kart and motocross racer as a teenager, has been representing Porsche as a Brand Ambassador since March 2022.
“It means a lot to me. Porsche is a brand that fascinated me as a kid,” says Emma Raducanu. “One of the fondest memories I have is one of my first tennis coaches, he drove a 911 and whenever I would turn up to practice in the morning, I would see his Porsche, I’d go wow. I really like that car. I really want that car. But also, it’s really important for me to align with partners and brands that I really feel passionate about and that I identify with. Everything is so perfect with Porsche. I think this partnership is incredible and I’ve already been able to experience lots and lots of exciting activities together with them.”
The driving experiences in a Porsche 911 Carrera S at the Porsche Experience Centre Silverstone and in a 911 GT3 around the Brands Hatch circuit both gave her a massive thrill. She discovered the performance potential of the sports cars from Zuffenhausen under Mark Webber’s – the former Formula 1 driver and endurance world champion – guidance at Silverstone. In the time-off from practicing ahead of the flight to the Australian Open, she joined the Porsche Carrera Cup Junior Adam Smalley in going to the limit at Brands Hatch.
For Oliver Blume, Emma Raducanu embodies not only a new generation of strong and self-confident players. “As a personality, she is also an inspiration and role model beyond the realms of her sport for young women all over the world,” says the Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. “Through her own life, she exemplifies that one can achieve one’s goals if one believes in oneself and is prepared to work hard. She’s therefore an excellent fit for Porsche and the values for which the company stands.”
