By Kate Fishbone ‘22, Sports Section Editor

What will you be doing at 18 years old? Some will say heading off to college. Others may say starting an internship or even taking a gap year and traveling the world. How about winning the US Open Championship? Yeah, probably not. Unless you are Emma Raducanu! At 18 years old, she won the US Open Championship.

Raducanu is the top female singles tennis player in England and is now the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title. Just a couple weeks ago, she became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade won the 1977 Wimbledon Championship. She is also the first British woman to win a singles US Open since Wade won in 1968. To top it all off, she is the youngest player to win a title since Maria Sharapova beat Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon Tournament. 

For her first Grand Slam win of her career, Raducanu defeated 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez in straight sets, meaning she won the first two sets in a best two out of three match. Impressively, she went the whole tournament without losing a single set, which is 20 sets when her three qualifying matches are included. The last person to do this was Serena Williams in 2014. 

Both finalists in the women’s championship were younger than 20 years old — 18 and 19 respectively. Both finalists were also unranked, winning monumental matches against tough opponents to reach the finals. On her path to victory, Raducanu defeated notable players, including Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals and Maria Sakkari in the semifinals. The runner-up of the tournament, Fernandez, took down Naomi Osaka in the third round. 

After winning her final point and claiming the title of US Open champion, Raducanu received her trophy from Billie Jean King, a former tennis player, 12-time Grand Slam champion, and gender equality advocate. Upon accepting the trophy, Raducanu said, “I think it shows that the future of women’s tennis and that the depth of the game right now is so great. I think every single player in the women’s draw definitely has a shot of winning any tournament. So, I hope that the next generation can follow in some of the footsteps of the greatest legends, for example, Billie Jean [King] right here.” 

To win this major championship, it takes time and commitment and an unmatched love for the game. Nothing says that like Emma Raducanu, who is already back training for her future endeavors. A week after her win, Raducanu is looking forward to her next match and her next tournament. She did not take too much time to bask in the glory as she got right back into the swing of things, preparing for what is to come next.

Emma Raducanu stands as a symbol for all athletes, male and female. She walked into the tournament as an unranked qualifier and left as a champion with a trophy. A new role model for aspiring athletes, Raducanu is just starting her career and has lots more to accomplish and many years to do it.