As she stormed to US glory, mum pickedup Emma’s trophy... for Kent Player of theYear
ALL eyes have been on Emma Raducanu as she blazed her incredible trail to glory in the US Open – but there have been two notable absentees from the Flushing Meadow crowds: her devoted parents.
As the teen sensation wowed the final stages of the Grand Slam contest, her mother Renee was 3,500 miles away from New York in the rather less glamorous settings of Bromley, South-East London.
But while draconian Covid restrictions kept her out of America, Renee was busy working on behalf of her daughter, collecting her award for Kent Player of the Year at the Sundridge Park tennis club.
It is an honour received with no less pride than the sport’s highest accolades, for the Raducanu family has remained loyal to those at the grassroots level who set Emma off on the path to superstardom.
The humility and quiet self-belief demonstrated by Renee and her husband Ian, who both work in finance, has clearly been passed down to the 18-year-old who has won an army of fans with her quiet resolve and self-deprecating humour.
Emma first picked up a tennis racquet aged five and a year later was listed on Bromley Tennis Centre’s roll of honour, having won the Under-8s Girls’ Championships.
Soon, Emma was a regular on the circuit of local and regional competitions with Renee eager to show off her daughter’s skill.
Renee’s former colleague, broker Julian Guthrie, recalled how he
‘Renee is always calm – and Emma inherited that’
was challenged to a match against the young Emma, telling The Mail on Sunday: ‘I’m a keen player and I used to make jokes, saying “there’s no way I’d lose to a tenyear-old girl”. But Renee would say, “I tell you what, you would. Why don’t you come and play?” Luckily for my ego, this didn’t actually come off.’
And he said Emma hasn’t changed since then, explaining: ‘What you see now on the TV is exactly as she’s always been. I love the way Emma has turned out and it’s a reflection on her mother.
‘Renee is very correct, very sure of herself, principled and just a lovely, positive person. To me, her principle quality is her calmness and Emma has inherited that.
‘I never heard Renee lose her temper or raise her voice and you can see that in her daughter on the court. Emma’s parents never liked negativity and would quickly snap her out of any hissy fits as a child.’
Speaking to Vogue magazine, Emma praised her mother for instilling her with self-belief: ‘I think the confidence comes from just inner belief. My mum comes from a Chinese background, they have very good self-belief. It’s not necessarily about telling everyone how good you are, but it’s about believing it within yourself. I really respect that about the culture.’
Renee was originally known as
Dong Do Mei Zhai and grew up in Shenyang, ya North East China, before moving in to Toronto, where she met her Romanian R husband. The family moved to Bromley when Emma was two tw and now live in a £345,000 home in a suburban cul-de-sac there. A shy girl, Emma was encouraged by her father to get into sport and she is also a talented ballet le dancer, go-karter, swimmer and a horse rider.
Indeed, in China Emma is better known on the table tennis circuit and she plays at the professional club in Shenyang during her annual visits to see her mother’s family members.
In an interview last year, Emma said: ‘My mum’s side of the family are so mentally resilient. It’s like l nothing can bring them down. I would say I take a big part of my inspiration from her. My mum has worked very hard.’
Ian, meanwhile, is described as softly-spoken and approachable – someone who is interested in people and subtly interrogates them as he chats. He was been overseeing his daughter’s training, although he has often raised eyebrows with his choices. As one coach put it: ‘People just thought he was a bit out there.’
Emma credits her parents’ background for her work ethic, saying: ‘They both come from academic families and in pretty tough countries growing up so they probably have a lot of that remaining.
‘They want me to have options, they think my education is very important for my future.’
With an A* maths A-level and A in economics from Newstead Wood grammar school in Orpington, she has taken heed of that advice too.
Emma has remained in touch with her former teachers and even returned to her primary school, Bickley, for its sports day over the summer. There her former teacher Rebecca Rodger said that despite Emma’s dizzying success she ‘is still the same girl I recognise from when she started school.
‘She is still very determined, very grounded, still wants to achieve really well and you can still see in her that little girl that I knew.
‘It’s been amazing and I’m sure she’s going to go on and achieve even greater things,’ she told ITV.