For one late-summer fortnight in 2021, Emma Raducanu turned a qualifier's wild card into the most improbable run tennis had seen. An 18-year-old ranked outside the top 100, she arrived at the US Open needing to win three matches just to make the main draw, then won seven more without dropping a set. No one had done it before: she became the first qualifier, man or woman, to win a major in the Open era, and the first British woman to take a Grand Slam singles title since 1977. Her 1 title stands as its own kind of miracle, the ball struck early and flat off both wings, a teenager playing without fear on the sport's biggest stage.
The follow-up proved harder than the fairytale. Raducanu climbed to a career high of world No. 10 in July 2022, but the years since have been a stop-start story of injuries, wrist and ankle surgery among them, and a long parade of coaches passing through her box. She has traded blows with the very best, Iga Swiatek and Maria Sakkari among her repeat opponents, and the clean, precocious ball-striking that lit up New York is still there when her body allows it. The tale is unfinished: the champion the sport met at 18 is still searching for the run that follows.
Twenty-nine. That is how many places Lilli Tagger climbed in this week's WTA rankings, from No. 74 to a career-best No. 45, after the 18-year-old won the Livesport Prague Open. She was one of four players to break into the top 50 in a week when the entire top 10 held its exact place.
Ranking tale2017. That is the last time Donna Vekic had won a grass-court title, and on Sunday at Queen’s she finally won another.
Match tale