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Emma Raducanu is all set to begin her Australian Open campaign as the 28th seed. And the British No. 1's skills on the tennis court are mirrored by those she showed in the classroom.

Five years on from her miraculous US Open win in 2021, Raducanu is ready to tackle another Grand Slam as she takes to the surfaces in Melbourne. The 23-year-old's 2025 was filled with promise as she climbed from No. 58 in the WTA rankings to a top-32 player and made multiple major third-rounds. She'll be hoping to continue this progression with coach Francisco Roig in place for 2026. But, while Raducanu is one of the finest tennis players Britain has to offer, her school exam results may come as a surprise.

Almost exactly one month before her crowning glory at the US Open, Raducanu received another piece of good news. While competing on the ITF circuit in the United States in August 2021, her parents called her to share her A-level results.

Raducanu, who attended Newstead Wood School in Orpington, aced the exams, obtaining an A* in Maths and an A in Economics. These results mirrored some equally impressive GCSE scores. Back in 2019, when Raducanu was also balancing her school life and competing in a range of ITF events, she excelled in her GCSEs by obtaining three 9s and four 8s.

This is the equivalent of straight A*s. The Toronto-born sensation opened up about her school life soon after winning her first Grand Slam, admitting that staying in school to do her A-levels and balancing tennis helped her switch off.

"I think staying in school definitely helped me in terms of having another set of friends I can come into," Raducanu said. "It was a different way of life. It's a bit of an escape as well for me to have another thing going alongside my tennis. It's kept my mind occupied.

"When you train, you only train for a certain amount of hours a day," she added. "You've still got a lot of time to fill. It's definitely helped to keep my mind active. I find it's actually helped me with my on-court career as well in the way that I can absorb a lot of information. I feel that on court I'm more tactically astute than some others."

But it was tennis that always took priority to great avail, even though Raducanu admits this did interfere with her dating life when she was still honing her skills.

She told The Times: "My parents were very much against [boyfriends] as it interfered with training. When I was younger I wasn't even allowed to hang out with my girl friends.

"A lot of the time I was very resentful. But it made me very confident and comfortable in my own company, which is also a big strength."