“The next Emma Raducanu”? 14-year old Brit Mimi Xu gets a wildcard for the 2022 Wimbledon
Andrew Walker
Updated on March 31, 2026
The Wimbledon offers wildcards to the players who are not ranked enough to be in the main event based on their past performances. It is also given to increase the British interest in tennis. Giving wild cards is purely based on the committee’s discretion. The wild cards have to undergo a qualifying tournament to get seeded into the main draw of the Wimbledon. The previous teenage, Brit wildcard who was extremely successful was Emma Raducanu.
Emma Raducanu was previously awarded the wildcard for the Wimbledon and performed exceptionally well. She reached the 4th round of the Wimbledon, retiring after that due to problems with breathing. She then continued from where she had left off in Wimbledon to win the US Open 2021.
She became the first British woman since Virginia Wade in 1977 to win the Grand Slam. She also became the first singles qualifier in the Open Era to win the Grand Slam. Though she has not performed as per her abilities in recent times, she has already established herself as someone to look out for.
Mimi Xu gets wildcard to play in the Wimbledon Qualifiers, the next Emma Raducanu?
This year the wild card went to the Mimi Xu, a 14-year old Brit who won the Under-18 Junior National Championships against a 16-year-old opponent Talia Neilson-Gatenby in Roehampton. She is looking to follow the example of Raducanu and will play the qualifiers for the Wimbledon main event. It is always refreshing to see young talents breaking records, and creating new benchmarks.
She was very happy and enthusiastic about the upcoming events. “Playing in the Grand Slam events is what we all dream about and I can’t wait to play the Wimbledon qualifying now,” said Xu. The road ahead is challenging for the 14-year-old, but you have to take up the challenges if you want to achieve great things.
Raducanu is an example that it’s not impossible for the underdogs to perform well and pip the favourites. So, Mimi Xu will try to instil herself with a sense of belief and try to give it her best and follow the road carved out by Emma in an attempt to represent Great Britain in the tennis World amply.
