Tennis star Emma Raducanu honoured at Laureus World Sports Awards alongside Max Verstappen, Tom Brady
- The Laureus World Sports Awards celebrate the best achievements in sport of the last year
- ‘I feel like it’s been a really great year for me, but I’ve still got a lot of work to do,’ Raducanu says
British tennis star Emma Raducanu has won the Breakthrough of the Year award at the 2022 Laureus World Sports Awards, alongside some of sports biggest names from Max Verstappen, Tom Brady and teenage skateboard sensation Sky Brown.
Raducanu, now 19, came through qualifying to win the US Open, becoming the first British woman to lift a grand slam title since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977.
The teenager, born in Canada to a Romanian father and Chinese mother, came through three rounds of qualifying and seven main draw matches without dropping a set. It was only her second grand slam event.
She received the award during an online ceremony hosted from Seville, along with a personal message from her idol, tennis star Li Na.
“Thank you so much Li Na,” Raducanu said. “You have been a great inspiration to me all my career. 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 so much.”