Emma Raducanu: US Open champion picks up WTA newcomer of the year after history-making 2021 tennis season
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ByEurosport
Published 07/12/2021 at 16:58 GMT
Emma Raducanu's 2021 keeps going from strength-to-strength as she scoops up the WTA newcomer of the year award. This year Raducanu became the first British woman to win a singles Grand Slam title since Virginia Wade in 1977. World No 1 and Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty won WTA player of the year.
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British number one Emma Raducanu has been voted WTA Newcomer of the Year.
Raducanu became the first qualifier to win the US Open and she also reached the fourth round of Wimbledon even though she had not won a match on the WTA tour. Her first tour win came in late October when she came from behind to beat Polona Hercog in three sets at the Translyvania Open.
Her WTA ranking has shot up from 343 at the beginning of 2021 to 19th.
The WTA said: "Emma Raducanu was voted the WTA Newcomer of the Year after making history in 2021 by becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam at the US Open, where she did not drop a set throughout all 10 of her matches.
"Having made her grand slam main draw debut at Wimbledon this year, she reached the last 16 to become the youngest British woman to reach this stage at the All-England Club.
"Her other notable results this season include reaching the final at the Chicago WTA 125 and the quarter-finals at the Transylvania Open (Cluj-Napoca). The British teenager started the year ranked No 343 and finishes the season at a career-best of world No 19."
Raducanu has also been named BT Sport Action woman of the year and the Sunday Times sportswoman of the year. She is also the overwhelming favourite to win BBC sports personality of the year on Sunday.
Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova were named doubles team of the year. The pair won Olympic gold in Tokyo in the summer and their third Grand Slam trophy as a pair at the French Open. Krejcikova was also named most improved player of the year.
Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro was awarded the comeback player of the year prize. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in September 2020, but came back in April 2021 to play at the French Open and Wimbledon in what would be her final season as a professional tennis player.
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