The curious cases of being a teenage Grand Slam champion

From braces, to pigtails, to acne, to everything else that comes with being an awkward teenager, a Grand Slam isn’t usually a symptom. Unless, of course, it is tennis.

A game known for the hard yards, the arduous years spent on the circuit, failing pilgrimage-after-pilgrimage all to end with hoisting a Grand Slam above your head - that’s the fairytale.

But, what happens when you do not have that struggle? There’s no grand pay-off, no cinematic ending - you’ve opened the book on the final chapter.

A girl from Bromley did exactly this by winning the US Open at 18-years-old in the most remarkable of circumstances. Emma Raducanu has completed the game of tennis on the first level. However, she’s not the only one.

22 teenagers have won a Grand Slam across the male and female tours. All with differing paths that Raducanu can replicate or learn from. These are the curious cases of being a teenage Grand Slam winner.

Michael Chang is the youngest-ever male champion. At 17, he hustled his way through to the final against fellow-teenage winner, Stefan Edberg. Chang bested the Swede in the 1989 French Open final and became the first American winner at Roland Garros since 1955.

Despite having the esteemed record of being the youngest male champion, Chang is more fondly remembered for his tussle with Ivan Lendl in fourth round. Battling on one-leg with crippling cramp, he outlasted the Czechoslovakian favourite in five sets.

After a performance that showed such relentless grit and determination, many tipped Chang to add to his Grand Slam tally. Unfortunately, he did not. He is the only male teenage Grand Slam winner to only win one major. That is not to label him as a ‘one-shot wonder’.

34 professional singles titles would be won by the Chinese descendant as he carved out a fantastic career whilst battling against the likes Boris Becker, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Chang opened the floodgates for the United States to dominate tennis in the 1990s.

His career that was defined by his on-court will power. If Raducanu has an ounce of Chang’s grit the accolades will soon follow. The union of determination and talent oft leads to a marriage with success.

From one boy that could not ascend to the same heights again to one that became acclimatised to the high altitude of the very top. Sampras offers Raducanu the most vital of lessons.

His pursuit of a first title did not come instantly, unlike Raducanu’s. He spent near-three years on the tour before he won his first US Open in 1990 against long-time rival Agassi. Yet, after his inaugural triumph, the slams did not tail him. ‘Pistol Pete’ would have to wait until 1993 before he won a second.

Sampras would go onto bow out on top, ending his career after winning a then-insurmountable record of 14 Grand Slams. On Raducanu’s notepad, it should read ‘patience’. The DC-native stuck to his guns and focused on his game.

It was his unrivalled tunnel-vision on improving that excelled him to the upper echelons of the sport. Sampras is often the benchmark for those that criticise Raducanu’s off-court adventures in which she has been relishing brand deals and exploring life outside of tennis.

The 14-time champion would neglect media and promotional duties, as he was content with living and breathing tennis. Nowadays, the narrative has shifted.

The greatest player of the modern-era, Serena Williams, never shied away from lucrative opportunities. Companies would flock to Williams for a piece of the pie. That is the nature of the game these days. Raducanu’s recent Nike campaign says it best: “World off. Game on.”

There is having ‘game on’ then there is not turning it off. That was the case for Spaniard, Aranxta Sanchez Vicario the iron-lady of the tour. She completed the teenage sweep at the 1989 French Open when she achieved her first of four Grand Slam triumphs.

The ‘Barcelona Bumblebee’ was an irritant on the court. Playing her was like opening a can of fizzy drink around a swarm of bees. The pestering never ceased.

Sanchez Vicario could never play enough. She went from tournament to tournament in both the singles and doubles playing 1,954 professional matches. It was that reluctance to stop playing that ultimately hurt her.

After she won her fourth title, the trailblazing Spaniard started to burnout and at 27 her success floundered. She retired in 2002 four years later.

With today’s medical science and physical programmes that are detailed to the minute detail, Raducanu should avoid the load that Sanchez Vicario endured.

Perhaps, the only path that the US Open champion will want to leave untrodden is that of Iva Majoli’s. The Croatian is the only one-time Grand Slam champion, having won her first in her teens, in the history of the female game - excluding current players. Unlike Chang, Majoli’s success across the board was never the same after her slam victory.

Before her shock French Open upset over golden slam-chasing Martina Hingis, Majoli had a profitable early career. Six titles to her name with her best years ahead of her. Yet, after that day on ‘Court Central’, Majoli would only win one singles title.

Performances and results dried up after that. Almost as if the Suzanne-Lenglen cup was the sponge of her career. She never graced a Grand Slam semi-final again, exiting before the quarter-final stage in 18 of her last 20 major appearances.

The Croatian said her farewells in June 2004 at just 26 years old. Majoli cited a lack of motivation as the reason for her retirement and who could blame her?

That lifetime ambition had been achieved at 19. There is no doubt that she chased after a second crown but sturdy opposition in Hingis, Steffi Graf, Sanchez Vicario et al made the fight not worth it in her eyes.

Luckily for Raducanu she is not alone amongst the WTA roster. Although neither are teenagers anymore, Bianca Andreescu and Iga Swiatek careers’ are still in their infancy.

The Polish champion looks destined for a vast trophy cabinet come the end of her career. In the year following her maiden slam at the 2020 French Open, she made it past the third round in each major event. The 20 year-old started her 2022 campaign by making the Australian Open semi-finals.

Swiatek’s approach to glory alters from many on the tour. In 2019, she employed Daria Abramowicz as her sports psychologist. The fellow-Pole helped her navigate through the turbulent waters of the post-slam spotlight where she has come out of the other side unscathed.

In contemporary sports, staying mentally healthy is paramount to success. Careers are often halted by physical injuries, but the likes of Naomi Osaka and Andreescu have stepped away from the tour to preserve their mental heat

The 21-year-old Canadian swooped in and grasped the torch from Williams’ clutches by winning the 2019 US Open becoming the first Canadian to win a slam singles title. A new era had dawned in the women’s game with Andreescu lighting the way.

Or so we thought. A knee-injury forced her to miss the entirety of the 2020 season and lingering issues kept her stagnating in the early exit pools during 2021.

When she ascended the throne, she tied with Monica Seles by becoming the quickest to win a Grand Slam in what was her fourth slam appearance - a record since slashed by Raducanu.

Andreescu missed the 2022 Australian Open because of her hiatus from the sport. With all the pressures that come with winning a Grand Slam title, it may be pertinent for Raducanu to explore the option of a sports psychologist like so many have.

20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer employed one in his early twenties, Jelena Ostapenko, Stefanos Tsitsipas and this year’s Australian Open finalist Danielle Collins have all worked with one in their careers.

It is only for the Bromley teen to say if she needs one or not, but having the ‘happiest man on the tour’ in Torben Beltz as her coach will certainly alleviate some of the Grand Slam baggage from her shoulders.

So, what does history forecast about winning a Grand Slam as a teenager? Nothing is guaranteed.

Some stroll through the golden gates of the tennis greats, some take their own passage whilst others stumble their way down the mountain never to reach to the summit again.

Scaling the alps of Grand Slam victory is only possible if you are equipped with an insoluble mentality, the resolve to battle through the media snowstorm and the talent to go where so few have gone before.

You can summit Mount Everest as a teenager, but the crusade for legacy is a lifelong quest.