Emma Raducanu news: Brit set for huge rankings rise as next opponent is revealed

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Emma Raducanu

Britain’s Emma Raducanu answered plenty of questions in her opening match at the Australian Open and now she is set for a huge rankings rise after her latest win in a Grand Slam event.

Raducanu secured a stunning rise up the WTA rankings after a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon was back up by her historic US Open win last September.

Those successes fired the teenager into the top 20 of the world rankings and now she is closing in on a place in the top ten after just one victory at the Australian Open.

Raducanu shone at a Grand Slam again as she marked her Australian Open debut with victory in the battle of the US Open champions against Sloane Stephens to claim a 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 victory.

With the rankings system focused on players defending ranking points from the same event last year, Raducanu has a huge advantage over her rivals as she doesn’t have any points to defend in the first half of 2022.

As several big names have points dropping off from their tournaments this time last year, Raducanu is already up to No 12 in the provisional rankings, with a place in the top ten now within reach if she can piece together some wins in Melbourne.

Former top ten player Barbara Schett game us her view on what to expect from Raducanu in 2022 in an exclusive interview ahead of the Australian Open and she insisted the Brit will find her feet on the senior tour.

“Emma still needs to get used to the whole situation,” Schett told Tennis365, in her told as a Eurosport analyst at the Australian Open in Melbourne. 

“Her life has changed completely and I have no doubt that she will have success in the future, but this is a year that she has to get used to being a Grand Slam champion and people looking at her, expecting a lot of her. It is all a matter of experience and learning.

“You have to give her a bit of time to settle down and I don’t think she is going to do major damage at the Australian Open,” she added. “With Emma, all of this was a susprise overnight (to win the US Open).

“She booked tickets to play qualifiers at the US Open and all of a sudden, she takes the trophy home. That is hard to digest.

“If you speak to people who have won Grand Slam titles, they say their life was never the same. The expectations coming from the outside change when you win and coming from Great Britain, there is even more pressure and you are in the newspapers every day.

“She needs time to develop as a person and a player. It is up there in the mind, that is the toughest part, but I have no doubt she will go on and do well in the future.”

Raducanu will move up another place in the provisional WTA rankings if she beats Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic in the next round and a place in the world’s top ten could be waiting for her if she can reach the fourth round or better at the Australian Open.

The Australian Open will be live on discovery+ and Eurosport from January 17th.

Emma Raducanu

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