WATCH: Emma Raducanu hits the court before 2022 season

Emma Raducanu probably had the best 2021 of all tennis players. Despite all of Djokovic’s titles or Krejcikova’s achievements, there was some fairytale like charm about Raducanu’s year.

In June, she made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Nottingham Open as a wildcard, where she lost in the first round to fellow Briton Harriet Dart. She ended the year in the top 20. Now that’s what you call a wild ride!

Raducanu’s 2021 at a glance

In late June, she was given a wildcard entry into the Wimbledon, where she reached the fourth round to become the youngest British woman to reach the last 16 of the tournament in the Open Era at 18 years and 239 days old, cracking the top 200 in the process.

Post the tournament, she changed her coach from Nigel Sears to Andrew Richardson, one of her youth coaches. In the US Open, she breezed through three rounds of qualifying to enter the main draw of the tournament. In the main draw, she beat Stefanie Vögele, Zhang Shuai, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Shelby Rogers, Belinda Bencic and Maria Sakkari to reach the final without dropping a single set. She entered the top 25 rankings based on this performance.

She broke a slew of records, being the youngest player to reach the final since Maria Sharapova in 2006, the only singles player to reach the semi finals and the finals as a qualifier and only the 5^th player to reach the US Open semi finals on her debut. She defeated Leylah Fernandez  in the first all teenage women’s singles finals since the 1999 US Open between Serena Williams and Martina Hingis.

As a result of the incredible victory, she is currently ranked number 23 in the world, replacing Johanna Konta as the best ranked British player currently. She became the first Briton to win a grand slam since Andy Murray at the 2016 Wimbledon.

Preparations begin

Raducanu started her preparations for the 2022 season and the subsequent Australian Open in Abu Dhabi, where she is beginning her season with the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, which would serve as a tune-up for the start of the new season and help her get back in shape. She was seen on the court practicing in Abu Dhabi. Some of the top players in the world, including the likes of Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov are taking part in this tournament.

The Mubadala World Tennis Championship is a non-ATP event held in Abu Dhabi, which serves as a warm-up tournament to shake off the off-season rustiness and get in shape for the ATP Tour.

Raducanu would surely want to win this tournament and start the year in the same manner she ended the last, and look to continue her meteoric rise in the world of tennis.

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