TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The new U.S. Open women’s singles champion Emma Raducanu is a fan of Taiwanese TV shows.
The British teenager completed an unprecedented journey from qualifier to major champion by beating Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the final on Saturday (Sept. 11).
After her amazing victory, during which she did not drop a set, Raducanu’s background has become a topic of interest.
Raducanu, 18, was born in Canada to a Romanian father and Chinese mother. At the age of two, her family moved to the U.K.
The athlete was nicknamed “British Rainie Yang” by netizens for her resemblance to the Taiwanese songstress and actress, CNA reported.
Sky News reported that after Raducanu became the U.S. Open champ, she shared photos of her cradling the silver trophy on social media and a video thanking her Chinese fans in Mandarin for their support.
“Hello, everybody, I want to say thank you, I hope you like to watch me play tennis, I am really, really happy now,” she said.
Her past interviews have also been dug up, including one where she said she liked to watch Taiwanese television, according to the BBC.
It was an interview conducted at the Lawn Tennis Association, during which she was asked about guilty pleasures. Raducanu replied with a laugh that it was probably binge-watching Taiwanese TV.
According to an AFP report, Chinese company Tencent published a special report to highlight photos of the new tennis sensation’s childhood visit to China.
The Chinese report said that Raducanu’s performance outside the tennis court is also impressive. She participated in the A-Level exams this year, in which she earned top marks in both mathematics and economics.
She said that her parents, who work in the financial sector, taught her self-discipline and to always do her best.
(Facebook, CNA video)
Emma Raducanu (Facebook, The Royal Family photo)
