According to Reuters Media on Monday, 2021 United States Open champion Emma Raducanu of Great Britain has tested positive for coronavirus. As a result, she had a pull out of an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi this week.
Raducanu made headlines this past summer when she defeated Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the U.S. Open final. In the process, she became only the second English woman ever to win the U.S. Open. The first was Virginia Wade, who defeated Billie Jean King of the United States 6-4, 6-2, to win the 1968 United States Open.
At 19 years of age, this is the latest reminder that coronavirus needs to be taken seriously and can hit anyone at anytime. In the National Football League alone, there were 37 positive cases on Monday alone. However, NFL games do not seem to be jeopardized at this time. The same cannot be said for the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association however. There are outbreaks among the Calgary Flames and Chicago Bulls which have led to postponements for their games this week.
Raducanu is now ranked 19th in the world. One must remember before participating at the U.S. Open, Raducanu was ranked 150th in the WTA Rankings. She also made history by becoming the first tennis player ever to win a grand slam title in the Open era as a qualifier. In fact no qualifier had ever reached a grand slam final on the men’s or women’s side before Raducanu.
It will now be interesting to see if the positive case of coronavirus interferes with Raducanu’s training too much. The next major is the 2022 Australian Open, which is only one month away.
