Kate Middleton and Emma Raducanu play tennis together as they celebrate champions' homecoming

Kate Middleton played tennis with newly crowned US Open winner Emma Raducanu this week as the pair met in honour of the champions' homecoming. 

• The Duchess of Cambridge has taken to the tennis courts to join Emma Raducanu for a special game to celebrate the homecoming of the US Open champions. 
• Kate Middleton looked delighted to meet Emma and her fellow US Open winners and the Duchess reportedly impressed them with her tennis skills. 
• This royal news comes as Meghan Markle wears wedding throwback at first in-person appearance since Lilibet’s birth.

Kate Middleton is known for her love of tennis and is the Patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, taking over this prestigious role from the Queen in 2016. Like many members of The Firm, Kate often attends Wimbledon and this July, she returned from self-isolation to present the trophy to the winner of the women’s final, Ashleigh Barty. And the Duchess of Cambridge has also been following the performance of British tennis stars in the other competitions.

Earlier this month, Kate shared a sweet message to Emma Raducanu in honour of her extraordinary achievement of reaching the final of the recent US Open. Wishing her luck, Kate was likely just as excited as everyone else to see Emma secure victory and go on to be crowned 2021's US Open Champion. 

The Duchess was amongst those who sent her congratulations to Emma via social media, whilst the tennis player also received a message from the Queen.

Now Kate and Emma have finally got to meet in person since her US Open win, as they played tennis together at a special homecoming event. 

Posting sweet snaps of the occasion on the official Duke and Duchess of Cambridge social media accounts, Kate appeared delighted at being able to play tennis with Emma at the event hosted by the Lawn Tennis Association at the National Tennis Centre. 

And Emma wasn’t the only US Open tennis champion whom Kate got to meet. The Duchess was also introduced to men’s and mixed doubles winner Joe Salisbury, as well as Alfie Hewitt and Gordon Reid who won the men’s wheelchair doubles. 

All five appeared in a wonderful group photo shared in the Duchess’ social media post. Here the caption proudly declared, ‘In the presence of champions 🏆 Congratulations @emmaraducanu, @joesalisbury92, @alfiehewett6 and @gordonreid on your incredible achievements in this year’s #USOpen. We are all so proud of you!’

As reported by The Telegraph, Kate’s tennis skills impressed the professional players, who praised her forehand in particular.

Emma reportedly shared, “Her forehand was incredible. I was very impressed. It was a lot of fun.”  

Whilst fellow player Joe is said to have agreed, declaring, “It was really good fun. I was very impressed by Kate’s level. “She obviously loves it, and has played a lot before, but it was good fun to be on court with her. Her forehand was very good.”

Royal fans will no doubt be hoping to get a glimpse of Kate Middleton's tennis skills again in the future.