Emma Raducanu to be personally congratulated by Duchess of Cambridge
The Queen of New York is set to meet the future Queen. Emma Raducanu will be personally congratulated by the Duchess of Cambridge, a keen amateur tennis player who has been closely following the teenager’s astonishing success since her first appearance at Wimbledon.
Telegraph Sport understands that the Duchess is keen to meet Raducanu in person and commend her for her hard work and US Open triumph. It is expected that Kensington Palace will arrange a convenient date with Team Raducanu, given the heavy schedules both women now have.
The 18-year-old, whose extraordinary victory on Saturday night has made her a global superstar, praised the Duchess during a round of interviews in the US for the flagship morning television programmes.
“I'm very very honoured to have received a note from Her Majesty and the Duchess [of Cambridge],” she said in reference to a statement released by the Queen praising her “remarkable achievement” and another posted on Twitter by, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge that said: “Huge congratulations Emma Raducanu… we are all so proud of you.”
Watch: Boris Johnson praises Emma Raducanu following US Open success
Underlining her stratospheric rise from A-level student three months ago to Grand Slam winner, Raducanu posed in front of a newly erected Nike billboard of herself on a New York street, posting on Instagram: “Sightseeing in NY. Never thought I would see this… coolest thing.”
On Monday night she was expected to attend the Met Gala, the most prestigious high society event in New York, a fundraising event held at the Met Museum that coincides with the city’s fashion week. The event is typically the preserve of Hollywood A-listers and the biggest stars in pop music.
Raducanu, if her success continues, threatens to be tennis’s most bankable star for years to come - and the invitation to the Met Gala reinforces that.
She told ABC’s Good Morning America that she was enjoying “the best time of my life” and admitted she had still to check her phone for messages, having given it up so as not to distract from her tennis over the course of the tournament.
She praised her parents - Ian and Renee Raducanu - for giving her the ‘mental strength’ to win through, adding: “My parents played a huge part of my upbringing and they were pretty tough on me when I was young, but it kind of shaped the way I think and now it's helping on the biggest stages in the world and Arthur Ashe stadium when you really need it.”
Mr and Mrs Raducanu have not been seen in public since the weekend but have spoken to their daughter by phone. “It was really nice to talk to them after I won. They're just so happy and proud of me. They’re my toughest critics and very, very hard to please, but I got them with this one,” Raducanu added.
She told US television audiences she was excited to be taking a replica trophy back home to Bromley in Kent when she finally leaves the US in the coming days. “That's coming with me right by my side,” she said.
Raducanu, whose mother was born in China, had been due to fly to Shenyang, a city in north east China, to visit her grandmother but her unexpected run to the final had forced her to cancel.
Instead she is expected to return to the UK for a hero’s welcome. It emerged on Monday that Andy Murray, winner of three majors, has been swapping messages with Raducanu during her meteoric rise this summer. The pair had played and trained together in the months prior to her breakthrough at Wimbledon and have become friends. "He is very fond of her and thrilled by her progress," one source close to Britain's two tennis superstars told Telegraph Sport.
British fans will have the chance to see Raducanu in action at the Royal Albert Hall in November, an event for retired champions of the game to which the rising star of the women’s game was given an invitation to play.
Watch: Emma Raducanu says US Open win 'was best time of my life'
