The fact that Emma Raducanu took her A-Level exams in the spring of 2021, then entered the Flushing Meadows courts a few months later and won the US Open without losing a single set is quietly remarkable. The majority of 18-year-olds are choosing their university residence. Tennis history was being rewritten by Raducanu.
She went to Newstead Wood School in Orpington, a prestigious grammar school in southeast London known for its rigorous academic standards. It’s not the kind of place where academics are subtly replaced by athletics. It requires both. Raducanu received an A* in math and an A in economics, which, apart from anything that took place on a tennis court, would have given him access to competitive universities.
It’s worth taking a moment to consider that. These weren’t grades for participation. While she was already competing internationally, overseeing a coaching setup, and getting ready for a Wimbledon run that took an entire nation by surprise, she achieved these impressive results in truly challenging subjects.
Compared to the typical athlete talks about balance soundbite, Raducanu’s discussion of the relationship between studying and tennis feels more genuine. She claimed that as a child, studying was an escape from tennis, and tennis was an escape from studying. One pressure eased the other. That reasoning seems almost mathematically reasonable; it’s the kind of thinking one might anticipate from someone who truly enjoyed her math classes.
She speaks Romanian, Mandarin, and English with ease. Emma’s mother is from Shenyang, China, and her father is from Bucharest. The family moved to Bromley when Emma was two years old. This linguistic diversity is not coincidental. It alludes to a setting where intellectual curiosity was accepted as normal and the world outside of a single sport or nation was constantly taken into consideration.
Raducanu, who is now 22, has stated that she plans to go back to school. Instead of giving a predetermined response, she has indicated that she might study physics, politics, or English. This is a broad enough range to indicate that she is actually still figuring out what interests her the most. She doesn’t seem sure if she should go straight to a degree or pursue a third A-Level first. It doesn’t feel controlled; it feels genuine.
It’s evident that she aspires to be more than just a tennis player. Reading between the lines of her public statements, it seems that the years of injury, coaching changes, and ranking swings since her breakthrough in 2021 have increased rather than decreased the urgency of that need. A different set of stakes, a different type of pressure, and a room where the scoreboard completely resets are all things that education offers that tennis does not always.
It’s still unclear how and when Raducanu will resume his formal education while continuing to play tennis professionally. It’s not easy logistically. However, she has never made very traditional decisions. It was also an unconventional decision to enter the US Open as a qualifier ranked 150th in the world and win the entire tournament without dropping a set. That’s exactly what took place.
Some athletes find meaning only in competition and ranking points, and they define themselves solely by their sport. It doesn’t seem like Raducanu is that person. It’s really difficult to predict whether that will prove to be a strength or a problem in a sport that requires almost complete dedication. However, it does make her one of the more fascinating figures in professional tennis at the moment, and not just because of her on-court accomplishments.
