“My Parents Were Very Hard to Please, but It Shaped My Resilience” — Emma Raducanu Breaks Her Silence and Explains How She Turned Tough Love Into a Historic Grand Slam Fairytale
Emma Raducanu made tennis history at 18 when she won the 2021 US Open without dropping a set in 10 matches, becoming the first qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles title. Her success came after years of balancing tennis training with schoolwork and living under her parents’ high expectations. Born in Toronto to Romanian father Ian Raducanu and Chinese mother Renee Zhai, she moved to England as a young child. Raducanu has often spoken about how her strict upbringing helped her become more independent, focused and resilient.
How did Ian Raducanu and Renee Zhai shape Emma Raducanu’s childhood?
Emma Raducanu grew up in Bromley, south London, in a family that placed a strong focus on education and hard work. Her father, Ian, is Romanian, while her mother, Renee, is Chinese. Both worked in finance and encouraged their daughter to take her responsibilities seriously, both in the classroom and on the tennis court.
Raducanu started playing tennis at five, but she also tried several other activities during childhood. These included horse riding, ballet, swimming, tap dancing and go-karting. Her parents encouraged her to explore different sports while she continued to develop as a tennis player.
School was just as important. Raducanu had to manage her studies alongside the demands of competitive tennis, which often meant working around training sessions and tournaments. In 2021, she completed her A-levels, earning an A* in mathematics and an A in economics.
Her parents expected her to give her best in whatever she did. That approach sometimes made life difficult, particularly after a tournament when she had to listen to her father discuss the areas where she could have played better.
Looking back, Raducanu explained how those expectations became part of her mindset.
My parents definitely have high expectations. In anything, not even just tennis. I had to be the best, do the best I could… Even though, when I was younger, I was wishing I didn’t have the two-hour car journey after a tournament with all the talk about everything I could have done better. But that constant desire for improvement from my parents is now my innate state.”
Those long conversations were not always welcome when she was younger. Over time, however, Raducanu came to see the value of reviewing her performances and looking for ways to improve.
How did Emma Raducanu’s strict upbringing help her develop resilience?
Raducanu has spoken openly about the limits her parents placed on her social life while she was growing up. They wanted her to focus on tennis and school, which meant she did not always have the same freedom as her friends.
She was not allowed to have boyfriends, and she has said that there were times when she could not even go out with her girlfriends. The rules left her feeling frustrated, especially when she was younger and wanted to spend more time with people her own age.
Her routine also required her to manage school, training and competitions. Tennis demanded concentration and regular practice, while her academic work meant she had to make time for studying outside school hours.
Raducanu has said that spending so much time on her own eventually helped her become more comfortable with herself. She believes that independence became useful on the court, where players must make decisions under pressure without relying on someone else to guide every move.
Reflecting on those years, she said:
“My parents were very much against boyfriends as it interfered with training. When I was younger, I wasn’t even allowed to hang out with my girlfriends. A lot of the time I was very resentful. But looking back, it made me very confident and comfortable in my own company, which became a big strength on the court. It made me resilient.”
That resilience was on display during her run at the 2021 US Open. Raducanu won three matches in qualifying before advancing through seven rounds in the main draw. She did not lose a set in any of her 10 matches.
She beat Greece’s Maria Sakkari in the semi-finals before facing Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in the final. Raducanu won 6-4, 6-3 to secure one of the most remarkable victories in modern tennis.
What did Emma Raducanu learn from her mother Renee Zhai’s ‘step by step’ advice?
Raducanu has repeatedly credited her mother with shaping her work ethic and the way she deals with difficult situations. Renee’s advice was simple: focus on what is immediately in front of you instead of worrying about everything that lies ahead.
The Chinese phrase “一步一步走” means “step by step”. It reflects the idea that a difficult task becomes easier to manage when it is broken into smaller parts.
For a tennis player, that lesson can be especially useful. A match may last several hours, and worrying too much about the final result can distract a player from the next point. Staying focused on the immediate task can help maintain concentration when the pressure rises.
Raducanu has described her mother as her role model and said she learned the importance of hard work from her. Speaking about Renee’s influence, she said:
“My role model has to be my mum. Her work ethic is something she instilled in me from a young age; I definitely got that from her. She always told me: ‘Step by step.’ When tasks or things seem daunting at first or like a big mountain, if you go step by step and just look at the first thing right in front of you, things aren’t as scary. My mum gave me that calmness.”
The advice offers an insight into how Raducanu approached her historic US Open campaign. Rather than becoming overwhelmed by the challenge of winning a Grand Slam, she had to concentrate on each opponent and each match as it came.
She kept doing that through qualifying and the main draw, eventually winning the title without losing a set.
How did Emma Raducanu’s parents react to her historic 2021 US Open victory?
Raducanu’s victory in New York was a major moment for British tennis. At world No. 150, she had entered the tournament through qualifying, but she went on to beat seven opponents in the main draw and lift the trophy.
Her parents were not in New York to watch the final in person. Their absence was not a choice to miss the occasion. The United States still had strict COVID-19 travel restrictions in September 2021, including restrictions affecting non-US citizens travelling from the United Kingdom. As Raducanu made her unexpected run through qualifying and into the final, the travel restrictions made it difficult for her parents to reach New York in time.
Although Ian and Renee could not be there to see the final, they had supported her development over many years. Raducanu has said that their high expectations helped her stay grounded, even after achieving something that few players manage in their careers.
Her father’s response after the win also reflected the family’s understated approach to success. Raducanu recalled his words after she became a Grand Slam champion.
“My parents are very hard to please. After I won, my dad just said, ‘You’re even better than your dad thought!’ From a young age they were tough on me, but they played a huge part in my upbringing. When you have parents who don’t let you get ahead of yourself, you stay grounded. They gave me the mental strength to survive out there.”
The victory made Raducanu the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977. She also became the youngest woman to win a major singles title since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004.
The achievement did not mean her career would be free of difficulties. Injuries and time away from competition later brought new challenges as she worked to return to the highest level.
But her US Open victory remains a defining moment, not only because of the result but also because of the route she took to reach it. Raducanu had to win 10 matches in a row, manage the attention that came with her sudden rise and perform under pressure against some of the world’s best players.
Her own comments about her parents provide another part of that story. She has acknowledged that their rules sometimes left her frustrated, while also crediting them with helping her become more independent and resilient. For Raducanu, the lessons she learned at home were not always easy, but she believes they helped prepare her for the demands of professional tennis.
