Emma Raducanu has been the talk of the internet after the tennis star won the US Open over the weekend.
Raducanu, who was born in Canada to a Romanian father and Chinese mother and moved to London at the age of two, became the youngest grand slam winner since Maria Sharapova in 2004, and the first ever qualifier to win the US Open.
Following the exciting victory, Weibo users celebrated Raducanu’s victory as well as her Chinese heritage, with a trending topic ‘18-year-old Ethnic Chinese Rising Star Women’s US Open Singles Champion’ reaching over 1.3 million views.
The 18-year-old addressed her Chinese fans by speaking Mandarin in a video post: “Hi, everyone, I want to say thank you to all of you, and I hope you enjoyed my tennis. I’m thrilled to win. Love you all.”
Netizens were impressed with her Chinese and wrote that she speaks with a Dongbei dialect, referring to the dialect used in China’s three northeast provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang.
Raducanu has spoken openly about her mixed heritage in the past and has credited her mother’s side of the family for their “mentally resilient” nature as an inspiration, as cited by BBC.
She has also spent time visiting Shenyang, her mother’s ancestral home.
Raducanu is the first British woman in 44 years to win a Grand Slam final – and likely not her last.
[Cover image via Weibo]
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