A Wimbledon semi-finalist in 1957 aged 16, the 1959 French Open champion looks back at her tennis life in a new book
A year ago Emma Raducanu was focused on her A-levels. Most aspiring tennis players need to have a backup plan. A talented junior, Raducanu was not being touted as the next big thing even by those within tennis. And then came Wimbledon, breakthrough wins and an abrupt fourth-round exit that put her on the front pages, before that incredible, magical run to the US Open title.
While some parts of Raducanu’s story are wildly different from previous eras, Christine Truman finds echoes. “Watching Emma Raducanu in 2021 making her Wimbledon debut as an 18-year-old girl brought back memories of my own debut at 16 in 1957,” she writes in her new memoir, Christine Truman to Serve. Truman was – still is – the youngest British semi-finalist in the women’s singles since Lottie Dod in 1887. “Like Emma I was unseeded with no expectation, but two weeks later everyone knew my name.”