Emma Raducanu's US Open victory is the greatest sporting upset of all-time.

Sporting upsets have become so commonplace, due to the vast disparity in funding when looking at elite-level teams, that when one unfolds before our very eyes, we fail to comprehend the magnitude of it.

To be classified as a historic upset, a multitude of factors must combine to birth a story that will later in life breed major motion pictures, biopics and autobiographies. Greece’s triumph in the 2004 European Championships, Leicester’s 5000/1 Premier League winning season and the New York Giants winning the 2008 Superbowl all top the charts of unthinkable achievements. A little less than a month ago, an 18-year-old shocked the world in such a dominant fashion that the lengths of her success are, at this time, incomprehensible.

Raducanu’s upset is being etched onto the tapestry of sporting miracles as we speak, but ultimately the fact her conquest was only a month ago loses her that old-school fairy tale feel that make an upset what they are. Enough of the fanfare surrounding her mind-boggling win, let’s dig into the climate of tennis that she was about to break.

Going into the US Open, Emma Raducanu wasn’t exactly a nobody. The flag she draped over her shoulders made sure of that, but even with her name being uttered amongst tennis’ future stars; her ascendency to the very top of the sport was forecasted for years down the line. Rewind three months and the half Romanian, half Chinese 18-year-old from Bromley, by way of Toronto, was entering her first pro WTA event. A first round lost to, fellow Brit, Harriet Dart in the Nottingham Open was not quite the dream start she may have hoped for.

Nonetheless, a good performance in the ITF 100k earned her another wildcard spot for the holy grail of British tennis, Wimbledon. Ranked 338th she stormed through qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko and more impressively Marketa Vondrousova and Sorona Cirstea to book her place in a last 16 clash against Ajla Tomljanovic. Unfortunately, the Brits maiden grand slam venture came to an end as she retired due to breathing difficulties ending her brilliant run with a damper. The critics flocked to bash the teenager on her lack of winner’s mentality.

Soon after, she was defeated comfortably by Shuai Zhang in the opening round of the Silicon Valley Classic which seemed to of cemented Raducanu’s position as an emerging young talent but nothing more.

Racket bag packed, AirPods in and a return ticket scheduled for late August; off she went to New York with her close-knit team of her coach Andrew Richardson, physio Will Herbert and agent Chris Helliar leaving Mum and Dad to cheer her on back in Bromley.

Next ensued a whirlwind three weeks that can only be described as Disney-like. 150th in the world, unseeded and a qualifier - the first round was Raducanu’s aim. Bibiane Schoofs, Mariam Bolkvadze and Mayar Sherif were swept away by a confident and composed Raducanu as she entered her fourth ever pro event. Stefanie Voegele? No problem. Shuai Zhang? No problem. Sara Sorribes Tormo? A walk in the park. And all of a sudden, Emma was the final qualifier remaining matching up against American Shelby Rogers who had just saw off the challenge of #1 in the world, Ash Barty. Another faultless performance followed.

#12th ranked Belinda Bencic provided Raducanu’s first top 40 opponent but, of course, the golden girl wasn’t phased. Bencic losing in straight sets to Raducanu 138 places her junior. A shot to become the first-ever qualifier to reach the final of a grand slam was in her grasp and Maria Sakkari stood in her way. Unfathomably, yet somewhat predictably by this point, Raducanu wiped the floor with Sakkari and booked her place in a glittering showcase against fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez in the final at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.

As the blood trickled down her leg from a savage scrape with the hard-court floor, Raducanu hammered home an ace that sent the teenager to the ground in disbelief of what she had just done. 18-year-old Emma Raducanu was US Open Champion. That in itself dominates the front and back page of the newspapers but understanding what she just did is otherworldly. The Brit is yet to win a match at a WTA tour event, she has never been a direct entrant to a grand slam, yet to play three sets in a tour-level encounter, the first British woman to win a grand slam since 1977, the youngest grand slam champion since Maria Sharapova in 2004, the first ever qualifier to win a grand slam and she did it all without dropping a set – and breathe.

The immensity of Emma Raducanu’s achievement is so fresh in the memory that the extent of how incredible her run at the US Open was diminishes its place in the rankings of the greatest sporting upsets. The time will come when Raducanu’s US Open triumph will be spoken in the same breath as the ‘miracle on ice’, Greece 2004 and Buster Douglas’ toppling of Mike Tyson. For now, Raducanu has only written the first chapter in her career and what a special career it will be.