Emma Raducanu’s life is changed forever after sporting triumph for the ages

Who knows how far the teenage tennis ace will go? She has the world at her feet after coming from nowhere to win the US Open, writes Ben Burrows

Raducanu, at just 18, is a grand slam winner (PA Media)

There are a few things the British sports fan loves more than an underdog.

Sporting history is littered with stories of the heroes and heroines who came from nowhere to shock the world and take their moment in the spotlight.

This weekend we saw one such tale for the ages.

Emma Raducanu is the US Open champion after a rollercoaster run all the way through the tournament at Flushing Meadows.

So sure was she that she would fall at the first hurdle she booked her flight home for after the qualifiers, before not only making it into the main draw itself but winning it all.

She becomes the first qualifier in history to win a grand slam title and what's more, she did it without dropping a single set.

The final itself, against fellow teen Leylah Fernandez of Canada, was as thrilling as all of the matches that preceded it with both showcasing the talent which suggests this won't be the last taste of a showpiece final for either.

Raducanu, as she had all tournament, used her power from the baseline to dictate terms while showing confidence far beyond her years even as the points became bigger and bigger as the finish line neared.

A medical timeout for treatment on a cut on her leg delayed the winning moment but it soon came with a booming ace out wide that Fernandez could only watch.

Raducanu collapsed to the surface, the enormity of what she had just achieved finally allowed to come flooding in.

The winner's cheque of $2.5m (£1.8m) should make those rebooked flights slightly easier to deal with, with the 18-year-old's life about to change forever.

She started out the fortnight ranked 150 in the world. She ends it as the world No 23.

Who knows how far she will go? The world is at her feet. She's no underdog anymore.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports Editor