It’s not been plain sailing for Emma Raducanu so far this year, but the Brit has now fought her way up to the top 10 of the WTA rankings for the first time.
The 19-year-old becomes the fifth British woman to achieve the feat since the rankings were introduced, following in the footsteps of Virginia Wade, Sue Barker, Jo Durie and most recently, Johanna Konta.
Raducanu becomes the third women’s player to make her top 10 debut this year, after US stars Danielle Collins and Jessica Pegula also achieved the feat.
Raducanu joins elite club
Little more than a year ago, Raducanu was ranked outside the world’s top 300, yet the Brit has enjoyed a remarkable rise.
Having reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, the teenager subsequently stormed to victory at the US Open –– becoming the first qualifier ever to win a Grand Slam title.
This made her the first British female to win a major since Wade in 1977.
No British woman has ever reached number one in the rankings, though Wade did climb as high as second.
Meanwhile, Barker’s highest ranking was third, Konta’s fourth and Durie’s fifth.
Raducanu benefits from lack of points at Wimbledon
Despite being knocked out in the second round of this year’s Wimbledon, Raducanu has benefited from a lack of ranking points being on offer.
The WTA and the ATP chose to ban points after the All England Club excluded Russian and Belarusian players from taking part in the competition.
As a result, the Brit has risen from 11th to 10th in the rankings, even though she reached the fourth round of last year’s competition.
While the points decision has resulted favourably for Raducanu, she is unlikely to maintain her place in the top 10 unless she retains her US Open title.
The Brit currently has 2717 points, but 2000 of these came from her victory at Flushing Meadows.
Players criticise rankings decision
A number of players have criticised the stripping of ranking points and argued the decision is not fair to the players.
Novak Djokovic won his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, but lost the 2000 points he gained for winning the competition last year.
Similarly, Ladies’ Singles champion Elena Rybakina stays 23rd in the rankings, while runner-up Ons Jabeur drops from second to fifth.
Women’s semi-finalist Tatjana Maria, who was ranked outside the world’s top 100 before the competition, still remains so, despite her historic run.
Addressing this issue, Jabeur said: “The more you do good, the more you regret that there are not any points," she said earlier this week.
"Honestly I don't just look at myself. But I look at also Tatjana [Maria], because she struggled with her ranking to come back. Now she makes a good run and she doesn't have points."