‘You’ve Been a Huge Inspiration for Me’ – Emma Raducanu Is Ecstatic After a Huge Surprise From a Grand Slam Champion Celebrating Her Laureus Award

Emma Raducanu wins the 2022 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award. The 19-year-0ld lived one of the biggest dreams of her career in 2021. To everyone’s surprise, she won the 2021 US Open. Winning the title, she wrote her name in the history books by becoming the first qualifier to go ahead and win the women’s singles crown at a Grand Slam.

The win in no time made Raducanu one of the most looked upon young players in women’s tennis. Keeping her breakthrough performance in mind, Raducanu was honored with the prestigious award.

Emma Raducanu wins the Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award

The Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award honors players who have just started climbing the ladder of success. The award recognizes players who have achieved a big milestone in their formative time. Raducanu was no different. The current World No. 11 proved to be the most deserving winner for the award with her title-winning performance at the 2021 US Open.

Honoring Raducanu with the award, the Laureus Award took to their Instagram handle, uploading a post. The post featured Raducanu holding the award, giving an acceptance message. In the message, she expressed her thankful gratitude towards the Laureus Academy. She also asserted that she still has a lot of work to do.

She said, “Thank you so much to the Laureus Academy for voting. It means so much to receive this award and I really want to congratulate my other nominees. I feel like it’s been a really great year for me but I’ve still got a lot of work to do. Thank you very much” 

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Sep 11, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; Emma Raducanu of Great Britain celebrates with the championship trophy after her match against Leylah Fernandez of Canada (not pictured) in the women’s singles final on day thirteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Raducanu receives a special message for her win

The celebrations weren’t over yet. Going further in the video, Raducanu received a special message from one of her career inspirations, Li Na. The Chinese grace became a member of the Laureus Academy in 2016 at Paris. Since then, she along with 59 other members have been voting every year to pick the best sporting talents.

With Raducanu winning the Breakthrough award this year, Li Na extended her wishes to the Brit player. She said, “Hey Emma, Li Na here to say congratulations. I’m happy as a member of the academy that my colleagues and I have chosen you as the winner of the Laureus Breakthrough of the year.”

Just like many other young players, Li Na has been an inspiration for Raducanu as well. Receiving a congratulatory message from Li herself undoubtedly left Emma speechless. Replying to Li’s message, Raducanu said, “Wow! Thank you so much Li Na. It means a lot to get this message from you. You’ve been a huge inspiration to me all of my career. I remember watching you. So thank you so much.”

On the tennis front, Raducanu is currently trying her hands on the clay-court season. She kicked off her clay-court tour campaign with a quarterfinal loss at the Stuttgart Open. She will next appear at the Madrid Open scheduled to start on 28th April.

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