Emma Raducanu’s sensational rise have helped inspire a new Amazon documentary illustrating the story of a young female star battling up the ranks of professional tennis.
The Brit is well-versed in navigating the peaks and troughs of being a prodigious player earning success on the professional circuit from a young age. Raducanu burst on the scene last summer as she followed up a fourth round showing at Wimbledon with an unlikely triumph as she won the US Open and became a megastar overnight.
Since her stunning win, Raducanu has struggled to replicate her form and has failed to get past the second round in the three Grand Slams that have followed. She has also very publicly changed her coach a number of times, and has recently opted to work with former Russian star Dmitry Tursunov.
Thanks to her humble mentality and well-spoken interviews, Raducanu is considered an inspirational figure for young women around the world - and documentary makers are now hoping to take advantage of her surge in fame. Line of Duty producers World Production are planning a new drama called Fifteen-Love.
Creator Hania Elkington admitted the series hopes to take advantage of role models for women in sport like Raducanu. Speaking to bustle.com, she said: “The voice of women in sport has never been heard as loudly and clearly as over the last two years.
“From Simone Biles to Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu to Pam Shriver, the pressures and realities of being at the top of your game on the world stage are finally breaking through to us, making us look again at the price our young prodigies can pay for the goals they work so hard to achieve.”
The plot of Fifteen-Love is reportedly around a young tennis sensation named Justine Pearce, who suffers a horrific injury right as she reaches the final four of the French Open aged 17. Five years later, Pearce is working as a therapist at her old tennis academy as she makes a serious allegation against her former coach and tennis partner Glenn Lapthorn.
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Elkington added: “Writing this drama, and the people I’ve met through my deep-dive into researching it, has been revelatory. I hope that Fifteen-Love has the same effect on its audience, and can become another valuable part of this urgent, emerging story.”
Meanwhile, Raducanu is taking part in a warmup tournament ahead of the Flushing Meadows tournament, and she will play Serena Williams in the first round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday. The Brit will be trying to defend her remarkable 2021 crown at this year’s US Open which carries 2,000 world ranking points.
Raducanu remarkably won the Flushing Meadows event - just her second Grand Slam appearance - without dropping a set at just 18 years of age, becoming the first qualifier to win a major title. She defeated her fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-3 in the final.
She also became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade triumphed at Wimbledon back in 1977. The 2022 US Open main draw begins on Monday August 29 and runs for two weeks in New York.
