Emma Raducanu has said she often forgets about her US Open victory. The Brit made history when she became the first player to win a grand slam after coming through the qualifying rounds. She stormed to the title in Flushing Meadows without dropping a set and became the first British woman since Virginia Wade to win a major.
It has been tough going for the world number 12 since then, as she has struggled for form and with injuries, and crashed out of the French Open in the second round earlier this week with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 defeat to Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The Bromley local has had much to contend with after winning in New York, essentially becoming a superstar overnight. In an interview with The Telegraph, Raducanu claimed she would have handled the fallout and newfound fame from winning her first slam differently.
"I didn’t really give myself that space," she admits when asked about how she dealt with the attention after the US Open,” the teen said. "I was just straight into the next thing, and I completely forgot I won. I was just so focused, which is the way it should be, but if you go straight into it too soon, you lose that spark you had.
"A lot of the time I forget [about being a Grand Slam champion], and that’s one thing I think I should do more – wake up and be proud of my achievements, and of myself, rather than giving myself a hard time about other things. I wake up knowing, look, I started playing tennis as a kid wanting to win a Grand Slam, that’s what I set out [to do], but of course I would want more, and it’s tough to not be absorbed in the results and to really enjoy what you’re doing."
Raducanu has faced criticism from ex pros regarding her performances, and choices regarding her coaching team. An excerpt from The Telegraph article stated: “Then there’s been the predictable backlash, as critics have lined up whenever she’s had the temerity to lose, or change, or capitalise on her sudden profile in a sport where the average retirement age is around 27.
“Even former world number one Kim Clijsters made veiled comments in March about players who have ‘sponsors coming in’ and are ‘treated like a princess’. Raducanu called any such talk ‘unfair’.” One of her biggest critics is John McEnroe, who earlier this week said the pressure of winning one of the grand slams is proving too much to bear for Raducanu at the moment.
Following her Roland Garros exit, this prompted McEnroe to suggest that the Bromley local is struggling with the added attention on her since joining the sport’s elite group of Grand Slam winners so early in her career.
McEnroe told Eurosport : “We have got to keep a little perspective here. At Wimbledon last year she was unable to finish a match because of stress and it got to be too much for her.
“Then she came out and did something that no one has ever done – man or woman – in 150 years of tennis, coming from the qualifying and winning. All of a sudden, there is this pressure on her, this expectation, that has gotten a little bit overwhelming as well.”
