Thanks to the two major upsets pulled off by Emma Raducanu in her journey to the US Open final, namely against Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari, the 18-year-old’s idol Simona Halep was able to climb up two positions in the WTA ranking, from 13th place to 11th place.
Yet, Raducanu is obviously the one who had the most to gain from the remarkable road she has had at the American Grand Slam, climbing her way up to the final stage. Emma Raducanu has the potential to become the best-ranked British player as of Monday.
If she wins the US Open, she will move up to 24th in the WTA rankings, up from 150th before the tournament taking place in Flushing Meadows. If she loses the final, the 18-year-old will be ranked 32nd in the WTA starting Monday.
Simona Halep is Emma Raducanu’s idol
In an interview with LTA, Emma Raducanu revealed why her idols are Simona Halep and Na Li. “I’ve got quite a few years ahead of me and I want to start playing how I want to picture myself in a couple of years.
I want to be athletic like Halep. I feel like I’ve got quite a good base right now but a lot to improve on and also Li Na – I’m a massive fan of her game. She’s got such powerful strokes. She went for everything, and also, she was very athletic in a more aggressive way.
I loved her mentality, she never complained. That’s something I aspire to be like,” said Raducanu. However, Emma has been showing a strong mentality on the court that enabled her to keep her composure in delicate moments.
“Yeah, I think that the calmness and the mental strength definitely comes from my upbringing. I think my parents have both instilled in me from a very young age to definitely have a positive attitude on court, because, yeah, when I was younger, it was definitely an absolute no-go if I had any sort of bad attitude. So from a young age, I definitely learnt that, and it’s followed me until now,” said the British player.
