Emma Raducanu: British No 1 and Katie Boulter seek to create Wimbledon history

Virginia Wade was the last homegrown women's player to get her hands on the famous Rosewater Dish back in 1977, so can Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter create Wimbledon history?

Raducanu goes into Wimbledon as the British women's No 1 having ended Boulter's two-year reign earlier this month, but she faces an immediate battle to hold onto her status.

Raducanu reached the fourth round last year and has more ranking points to defend than Boulter, who was knocked out in round two.

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Also in the mix is Sonay Kartal, who made the third round as a qualifier last year and has soared into the world top 50.

None of the trio will be seeded but home fans have a bumper amount of British singles players to cheer on, including teenage trio Mimi Xu (17 years old), Hannah Klugman (16) and Mika Stojsavljevic (16).

Raducanu is playing probably some of her best tennis since her remarkable US Open triumph in 2021 - although that bar is quite low after a turbulent few years.

The 22-year-old is having to manage a back problem, but her informal coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey appears to be working.

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While motivation for a home Grand Slam is usually a given, there is a battle at the top of the game in this country, which is driving Britain's main trio forward.

After two years as the British No 1, Boulter was replaced at the top of the domestic tree earlier this month by Raducanu, the woman she had previously usurped.

Going into Eastbourne, Raducanu led Boulter by just a handful of points, while Kartal is the newcomer on the block, with her ranking having climbed almost 250 places in a year to 49.

"It's really nice to see the state of British tennis getting better and better every single year," said Boulter. "I feel like I'm extremely happy to see great people doing really good things."

On being overtaken by Raducanu, the 28-year-old added: "Of course, I personally want to be getting my ranking moving in the right direction. I'm very happy for her to be British No 1. But, at the same time, it's going to be fun for me to chase her now."

Steady progress for Raducanu

In contrast to her record-breaking emergence at the top of the sport four years ago, Raducanu has been making steady progress since returning at the start of last year from surgery on both wrists and one ankle.

Physical frailties remain, and an ongoing issue with a back spasm prompted her to pull out of last week's tournament in Berlin, ending her hopes of a Wimbledon seeding.

Raducanu almost pulled off an incredible comeback in her second-round match against 19-year-old Maya Joint before losing on a final-set tiebreak at Eastbourne after which she revealed she needed to "get my head in the game" ahead of Wimbledon.

Raducanu has shown she can pull off big results, twice beating top-10 players on grass last season, but she has the most points to defend, having made the fourth round at the All England Club last year.

"I think having Katie in front, it was nice for me to have something to chase," said Raducanu, who played doubles with Boulter at Queen's Club.

"Now I'm sure she's going to enjoy that with me. We have a healthy competition between us. I want to see her do well, she wants to see me do well."

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Could Kartal be the one to watch?

Arriving quickly in the rear-view mirror, meanwhile, is Kartal, who has not looked back since reaching the third round of Wimbledon as a qualifier last year, making it three British women in the top 50.

The 23-year-old, a former junior rival of Raducanu, also made an impressive debut in the Billie Jean King Cup this year, and Anne Keothavong's side will head to the finals in Shenzhen in September looking to better last year's semi-final run.

"We're all very close and spend a lot of time together when we're at home training," said Kartal of the triumvirate.

"To have us three all together, I think maybe sometimes it is in the back of our heads but I think that's a good mentality, it makes us push harder in training since you know you've got two of your team-mates that are trying to do the same thing.

"I think it's really good for us to have that rivalry and it's really good for the sport as well. I think we're in a really good place for women's tennis."

While there is currently a gap after Kartal, Wimbledon is a chance for another exciting trio to start making names for themselves.

Here come the teen stars...

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Mimi Xu, 17, and 16-year-olds Klugman and Stojsavljevic have all been given wild cards for the women's singles for the first time after success in the junior game.

Boulter believes having sparring partners at an early age can accelerate their progress, saying: "I don't feel like I necessarily had that many people around me when I was coming through so I'm a little bit jealous of them having people to push them constantly.

"I'm looking forward to watching them and seeing them all grow."

British wild card Xu gets first shot at Raducanu

Xu, the Welsh player ranked 318, was left scrambling to try to find out who she had drawn, saying: "It's quite funny because we're moving into the Airbnb this morning at five past 10 and I get a message from my coach, and he was like: 'What an exciting draw!'

"And then my mum's getting messages saying, 'That's so good, so exciting this and that', and not saying the name. And I haven't seen the draw. I'm like: 'Oh my gosh, what is the draw? Who am I playing?'

"And no one was replying afterwards, so I went on to the Wimbledon website and it wasn't there, and eventually someone told me I'm playing Emma.

"I feel like I'm really ready for it. I'm really excited for it. Obviously she's done so well in her career and I'm at the beginning of mine. So I think it's going to be a really good test for me, really good opportunity for me to just go out and play and have fun. I think she's a really good role model to have."

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