Breakthroughs and big names: Raducanu, Nadal among most Googled athletes

Top names and breakthrough players spurred interest in tennis this season, based on Google's summary of this year's worldwide searches.

There were two tennis players among the top 10 most searched athletes: fourth-placed Emma Raducanu, who became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam when she captured the US Open, and ninth-placed Rafael Nadal, who has a record-tying 20 Grand Slams and played against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the French Open before a foot injury derailed the rest of his season.

The top three were soccer player Christian Eriksen, golfer Tiger Woods and gymnast Simone Biles.

WATCH: Tennis Channel Live speaks about their expectations for Emma Raducanu in 2022.

Other top tennis players also featured prominently in their home countries. No. 1 on the ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic was the most-searched athlete in Serbia, as well as No. 3 in France and Switzerland. No. 1 on the WTA Tour, Ashleigh Barty was the second most searched-for person in Australia, with Nick Kyrgios at No. 7 the other tennis player included.

In Spain, Nadal was the No. 3 most searched-for athlete and Paula Badosa was No. 6, having reached a career-high No. 8 in the WTA rankings this season. Similarly, Stefanos Tsitsipas was No. 3 and Maria Sakkari was No. 6 in Greece. Iga Swiatek was No. 6 in Poland. Despite being off the tour for half the season, Dominic Thiem was the third most searched-for person in Austria.

There were four tennis players among the top 10 searched athletes in France—along with Djokovic there was Nadal in fourth, French Open finalist Tsitsipas in seventh and in eighth was Roger Federer, who played just a handful of events because of knee surgery.

But Olympic singles gold medalist Belinda Bencic was No. 3 among searches for national figures in Switzerland, while there was also interest in Federer's rivals—in addition to Djokovic at No. 3, Nadal was No. 4 among international names searched.

And in Canada, Leylah Fernandez was the second most searched-for athlete following her run to the final of the US Open, and among four tennis players in the most-searched Canadian athletes.

It was a big season for Italy on the ATP Tour, reflected in the searches: Matteo Berrettini reached the final of Wimbledon, becoming the second most-searched person in Italy, while Jannik Sinner reached the Top 10 as a teen and was also No. 6 among the most searched.

There was also strong international interest in the Grand Slams, especially Wimbledon, which was a top 10 sports or event search term in several countries including Australia, France, India, and Italy. The French Open was among the top 10 in Australia, Greece, Spain and Italy. This was during a busy sporting season that included the Olympics and the Euros.