Emma Raducanu was supposed to be a tennis superstar. What happened?

Emma Raducanu's career has taken a very different path from what many expected after her extraordinary breakthrough at the 2021 US Open. At just 18, the Briton became the first player in history to win a Grand Slam title as a qualifier without dropping a set, producing a run that immediately placed her among the most promising young players in the sport.

Five years later, however, the gap between Raducanu's potential and her results has become increasingly difficult to ignore. Injuries, coaching changes and long periods without competitive rhythm have prevented her from establishing the consistency expected from a player who once reached No. 10 in the WTA rankings and appeared destined to become one of the leading figures of her generation.

There have still been flashes of the player who dominated New York. When physically healthy and able to build momentum, Raducanu has shown the ball-striking, movement and competitiveness required to trouble high-ranked opponents. The problem has been turning those performances into sustained progress, with interruptions repeatedly forcing her to restart the process.

18-year-old Emma Raducanu won the US Open without dropping a set. Five years later, she is 23, ranked outside the world's top 40 and facing another lengthy spell on the sidelines. Now 23, Raducanu finds herself at another crossroads. Her ranking has fallen sharply again after a new injury forced her to withdraw from the 2026 US Open, raising further questions about when — and whether — she can finally put together the uninterrupted period of competition needed to discover what her career can still become.

Raducanu's problem isn't that the US Open was a fluke or that she suddenly lost her talent. It is that she has repeatedly been unable to sustain the physical continuity required to turn that talent into a career trajectory.

Heading into 2021, Raducanu was still largely unknown to the wider tennis world. After producing promising results as a junior, she had alternated between professional and junior tournaments from 2018 to 2020. She had even been part of the British Fed Cup — now Billie Jean King Cup — team as a hitting partner while still a junior, before joining the squad for the 2020 qualifying tie as a replacement for Johanna Konta.

She was already being identified as a generational talent, although few could have predicted what would happen so early in her career. Raducanu made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon after receiving a wildcard and immediately produced an impressive run to the fourth round.

Along the way, she defeated players such as Marketa Vondrousova and Sorana Cirstea, becoming the youngest British woman to reach the last 16 at the All England Club at the time. However, she was forced to retire during her fourth-round clash with Ajla Tomljanovic after experiencing breathing difficulties and general discomfort.

Raducanu still left Wimbledon having entered the top 200 for the first time in her career. She subsequently reunited with Andrew Richardson, a coach she had previously worked with as a junior, ahead of her North American hard-court swing.

She accumulated a strong run of victories at ITF and Challenger-level tournaments before travelling to New York, where she was set to play her first Grand Slam qualifying event. Raducanu was the 31st seed in qualifying and won three consecutive matches to reach the main draw, becoming a Grand Slam main-draw player through qualifying for the first time.

Her opening-round draw initially looked difficult, with 13th seed Jennifer Brady waiting for her. The American, however, withdrew shortly before the tournament because of injury — potentially changing the course of the event for Raducanu.

From there, the Briton embarked on an unexpected run. She avoided most of the leading favourites in her section after the early exits of No. 22 seed Karolina Muchova and world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, reaching the quarter-finals without facing a top-40 opponent.

That changed in the latter stages, when Raducanu produced some of the biggest victories of her young career. She defeated No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic and No. 18 Maria Sakkari, both in straight sets, to reach her first professional final against another unexpected contender in Leylah Fernandez.

The final brought together two players who had been relatively unknown at the beginning of the tournament. Raducanu prevailed 6-4, 6-3, becoming a Grand Slam champion at just 18 years old. Ranked No. 150 in the world, she became one of the most unexpected major champions in tennis history — and did so in only her second Grand Slam main-draw appearance.

The US Open triumph changed everything around Raducanu, but it did not immediately provide the stability needed to build on that success. Just weeks after winning her maiden Grand Slam, she split with Andrew Richardson, the coach who had guided her through her historic run in New York. The decision was followed by a period of frequent changes within her team as she searched for the right structure to continue developing her game.

Torben Beltz became her next coach in late 2021, but their partnership lasted only several months before ending in April 2022. Dmitry Tursunov then joined her team later that year, helping Raducanu produce some of her more encouraging performances after Wimbledon. Their collaboration also proved short-lived, however, ending before the 2022 season was over.

The coaching changes were accompanied by a much more serious problem: injuries. Raducanu struggled with physical issues throughout 2022, including a wrist injury that eventually required surgery and significantly disrupted her season. She dropped down the rankings as a result, while the lack of continuity made it increasingly difficult for her to establish a regular schedule and build momentum.

By the end of 2022, the player who had entered the previous year as one of the biggest stories in tennis was facing a very different reality. Raducanu had gone from Grand Slam champion to rebuilding both her ranking and her physical condition, with another coaching change and further adjustments to her team adding to the uncertainty around her development.

Raducanu returned to competition in 2023 after undergoing surgeries on both wrists and her ankle, but the season was again interrupted by physical problems. She played only a limited number of tournaments and eventually underwent further rehabilitation, leaving her outside the top 300 and facing another long road back toward the level she had reached in New York.

Her return in 2024 initially suggested that the rebuilding process could finally produce some consistency. Raducanu started putting together more matches and victories, and although she remained far from her career-high ranking, there were signs that her game was beginning to stabilize when she was able to stay on court for extended periods.

The most encouraging moments came during the grass season, when Raducanu reached the fourth round at Indian Wells and later in Wimbledon. She defeated former top-10 player Maria Sakkari in the opening round and advanced through several matches before losing to Lulu Sun. Raducanu recorded the first two top-10 victories of her career: she defeated world No. 5 Jessica Pegula in Eastbourne before producing another major upset against No. 9 Maria Sakkari in the opening round of Wimbledon.

By the end of 2024, Raducanu had climbed back inside the top 60 and was once again showing that she could compete consistently against established players when physically available. The progress was still incomplete, but after two seasons dominated by injuries and uncertainty, the upward movement in the rankings provided a more tangible indication that a second chapter of her career might still be possible.

Raducanu built further momentum in 2025, reaching the fourth round of the Miami Open and continuing to collect wins in the opening rounds of WTA 1000 tournaments. Her ranking improved significantly as she gained more regularity, while three Grand Slam appearances ended in the third round, offering further evidence that she was gradually returning to the level expected of her.

Raducanu managed to return to the top 30 in the latter part of the year after reaching the third round of the US Open. The final months of 2025 did not produce major results, but they raised expectations that by 2026 — already seeded at Grand Slam and WTA 1000 events — she could finally find some consistency in her career.

The 2026 season has been far from what Raducanu had hoped for, with recurring physical problems affecting her campaign. She reached the final in Cluj-Napoca in February — her first final since the 2021 US Open — but eventually lost to Sorana Cîrstea. Her momentum ended in the following weeks after an injury ruled her out for the first two events of the clay-court swing.

After first-round defeats at the Strasbourg Open and Roland Garros, she began the grass-court swing at a very high level, reaching the final of the Queen's Club Championships. It was her second final of the season and her first at WTA 500 level. Raducanu appeared to be heading into Wimbledon with more confidence than ever, raising hopes in Britain that she could take another step forward and once again impress the tennis world.

None of that happened. An injury forced her to withdraw from Wimbledon, and she has not returned to the court since. The 23-year-old has now been away from competition for two months after subsequently withdrawing from the DC Open, Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open and, most recently, the US Open. There is still no confirmed return date for Raducanu, who currently sits at No. 49 in the rankings and could face a further drop in the coming weeks

Raducanu’s case is unusual — particularly because of the level she reached so early in her career and the decline that followed, making it difficult to find a direct comparison.

Raducanu's career doesn't fit neatly into the usual "teenage champion who failed to fulfil her potential" story. There are precedents for players disappearing from the top level and returning much later.

Jennifer Capriati is perhaps one of the closest examples. She won Olympic gold at just 16 and then spent years away from the tour before, at 25, producing the best season of her career, winning consecutive Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 2001.

Sloane Stephens is another relevant comparison. At 20, she reached her first Grand Slam semifinal, before spending several years outside the upper reaches of the rankings. She eventually returned to the biggest stage and won her first Grand Slam title at 24, defeating Madison Keys in the 2017 US Open final.

Raducanu’s age should not be overlooked. She is still only 23 and has many years ahead of her to perform at the highest level, although her physical condition has emerged as perhaps the biggest obstacle of her career. Injuries have repeatedly interrupted her momentum just when she has begun to regain confidence, while the constant changes of coaches have added another layer of instability.

It is possible that Raducanu will not return to Grand Slam competition until 2027, when she could make her next major appearance at the Australian Open. She would arrive in Melbourne at just 24, still with plenty of time ahead of her, particularly considering that eight of the current top 15 players are aged 27 or older, including world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who is 28.

The question isn't whether Raducanu still has the talent to reach the top. She has already shown that she does. The question is whether her body will finally allow her the uninterrupted period of tennis required to find out how good she can actually be.