Without a doubt one of Britain’s biggest sporting achievements saw 18-year-old Emma Raducanu win the US Open defeating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in straight sets.
What made it even more remarkable was that she was a wildcard and had to go through three qualifying matches to reach the main draw. The 18-year-old from Kent, ranked 150 in the world before the tournament, also went the whole tournament without even dropping a set.
She received close to 2 million in prize money and was the first British woman in 44 years to win a Grand Slam with Virginia Wade being the last in 1976 when she won Wimbledon.
No qualifier had ever reached a Grand Slam final before and she was also the youngest champion since a 17-year-old Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004. She only made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon a few months beforehand. We imagine she will have well-known brands lining her to sponsor this popular and affable teenager and let’s hope she had a great 2022 which starts with the Australian Open in January before moving on to the French Open and then Wimbledon in June.
Novak Djokovic, who won the Australian, French and Wimbledon, was looking for a calendar Grand Slam and was the favourite coming into the US Open. He was the world number one and had won the US Open three times before.
He looked on course to win another Grand Slam as he reached the final with not much bother however he came unstuck in the final against Daniil Medvedev who won his first Grand Slam. The final was surprisingly a one-way affair, with Russia’s Medvedev winning in straight sets. They also played each other in this year’s Australian Open Final with Djokovic winning.
Djokovic is therefore stuck on 20 Grand Slams along with his great rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
2022 should be a great year for tennis with the emergence of young stars as well as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic looking for that elusive 21st Grand Slam.
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