Emma Raducanu, the London teenager who’s taken the world by storm

Emma Raducanu was on Monday coming to terms with her new status as one of the most in-demand sports stars — as Virginia Wade said the teenager had taken the “whole world by storm”.

Londoner Raducanu, 18, who sat her A-levels just months ago, beat Canadian Leylah Fernandez in straight sets in the final of the US Open on Saturday night to become the first British woman to take the tennis title for 53 years.

Experts on Monday said she could become Britain’s first billion-dollar sports star.

In a sign of her potential to be a huge fashion influencer, Raducanu looked every inch the global star when she switched into a black sparkly boucle strapless mini dress, worn with white Nike Air Force trainers and Tiffany earrings, after her victory. She wore Tiffany earrings throughout the tournament.

She is the first British woman to win a Grand Slam title since Wade at Wimbledon in 1977. Speaking to BBC Breakfast this morning, Wade — who won the US Open in 1968 — said: “I am so thrilled that someone as good as Emma has come along and taken the world by absolute storm and just been brilliant.

“It is absolutely phenomenal. She has played really, really well the whole tournament. She has all the attributes you need to make a champion. It was just what everybody needed.”

Wade said Raducanu now “needs to understand just how good she really is… If you believe you are better than the others, you are going to beat them. I think she understands that, I am sure she does, she seems to be so self-aware.”

Wade said it was “so cool” that she and Raducanu got to meet backstage after her 6-4, 6-3 win. The new champion’s neighbours today spoke of their “immense pride”. Raducanu moved from Toronto to Bromley when she was two.

Who are Emma Raducanu’s parents?

Her father Ian is Romanian and her mother, Renee, is Chinese.

They live in a three-bed semi in a cul-de-sac, which residents decorated with banners and balloons before the final. Howard Derham, 29, said: “We all watched the match and you could hear the cheering from the neighbours. Emma is amazing. During lockdown she practised at the garages outside the house.”

Another neighbour said: “We have seen her grow up. In our wildest dreams we couldn’t have believed we would have a Grand Slam winner as a neighbour.”

What school did Emma Raducanu go to?

Raducanu, who takes home £1.8 million in prize money, studied at Newstead Wood School in Orpington, gaining an A* in Maths and an A in Economics.

PR guru Mark Borkowski reckoned that Raducanu has the talent and charisma to potentially become Britain’s first billion-dollar sport star.

“This is the start of something epic,” he said. “She is a billion-dollar girl, no doubt about it. She is the real deal.”

The star said the first thing she wanted to buy with her new fortune was a new pair of Air Pods. As she is not legally allowed to drink in the US, being only 18, she said she wanted to celebrate with a chocolate frozen yoghurt instead of champagne.

She is due to return to London after cramming in a whirlwind sightseeing tour of New York.

The teenager had to spend three weeks in her hotel room because of the tournament’s covid rules and joked that she was looking forward to trying the city’s restaurants.

She said on Saturday: “In three weeks I haven’t seen one sight. I’ve just been hiding in my room with Uber Eats.

“But I want to check out Wall Street, the Twin Towers memorial.

“We have a lot of good recommendations for food spots. I’m going to try to hit up as many as I can in one day.”

Channel 4 said a peak TV audience of 9.2 million Britons watched Raducanu’s 6-4 6-3 victory over Fernandez.

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