Emma Raducanu's remarkable up and down career at 22 years old

Emma Raducanu turned 22 on November 13th, and in those 22 years, she has experienced more highs and lows than most other athletes.

British tennis star Emma Raducanu said in a tearful press conference during the US Open that her first-round exit in the tournament was probably due to a lack of preparation and game time.

The 21-year-old said she ultimately should have managed her schedule differently, as she had not competed for weeks prior to the US Open, after battling injuries and coaching changes for the last 12 months.

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"I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel really good, you feel like everything's automatic. So yes, I think I can learn from it and manage my schedule slightly differently," she said, as reported by Eurosport.

Raducanu explained that while the decision to not do any warm-up matches was a 'collective' between her team, she would just have to learn from the loss and move on.

 "I feel down... I feel, I feel sad. Obviously, this is a tournament I really want to do well in," the embattled star lamented.

Raducanu was easily handled by Sofia Kenin in the 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 loss, which now means the Brit has not won a match at the US Open in three years since she sensationally won it.

The Emma Raducanu story is one of the most interesting tales in recent tennis history, creating one of the biggest sporting upsets to finding herself at ground zero again.

The hegemony of the WTA Tour is often in a state of flux, with many different Grand Slam winners, without necessarily securing themselves a bright future among the world's top players.

Some players managed to create a buzz at a tournament, without ever returning to the limelight afterward. Raducanu is one such example.

Though the young Briton is only 21 years old, there is already this feeling that she has disappeared, despite the fact that she has amazed tennis fans from the start of her career.

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In 2021, having only just started her professional career and having won very little, Raducanu achieved the unthinkable.

In her very first main draw at a Grand Slam tournament at Wimbledon, the young Briton, then aged 18, caused a bit of a stir by reaching the last 16.

Ranked world No. 338 at the time, Raducanu became only the fourth British player to reach this stage of the competition at Wimbledon.

It was a brilliant first success that allowed her to show the whole world her qualities and, above all, gave her future opponents something to be wary of.

In her very first US Open, Raducanu produced one of the greatest performances in the history of tennis and sport in general.

She made it all the way to the final and went on to win the tournament as a qualifier, a first in the history of both men's and women's tennis.

Raducanu accomplished this by not dropping a set throughout, becoming the first British woman to win a Grand Slam tournament since Virginia Wade in 1977.

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It was an incredible tournament that catapulted Raducanu to the forefront of world tennis, and she attracted a huge number of sponsors thanks to her marketable looks and unique backstory.

But while it was thought that there might be some continuity in the young player's career, this proved more difficult than expected.

During the 2022 season, her results were far from exceptional, quite the opposite in fact, as she never advanced past the second round of a Grand Slam tournament.

Eliminated in the first round of the US Open, Raducanu dropped from world No. 11 to 83. She ended her season due to a right wrist injury.

Raducanu failed to achieve any significant results at the start of the 2023 season, only reaching the last 16 at Indian Wells. In May, she announced that she was having surgery on her hands and ankle, announcing her withdrawal from the French Open and Wimbledon.

Thrust into the limelight very quickly, Raducanu was thrown into the deep end of the world tennis elite very quickly, without having gone through every stage necessary for a player's development, which certainly did her no favours in staying at the highest level.

As a result of her injuries, she finished 2023 world No. 285. She then failed to make an impact at the 2024 Australian Open, where she was eliminated in the second round.

Since the Australian Open, Raducanu has had an up-and-down 2024, but improved drastically on the grass court, reaching the semi-final of the Nottingham Open, the quarter-final of the Eastbourne International, and the last 16 at Wimbledon.

At just 22 years of age, however, Raducanu has time ahead of her to finally get used to the highest level, but will need to start getting some considerable time on the court to get her career back on track.

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