RADUCANU GIVES HERSELF A BREAK
EMMA RADUCANU has stopped being so hard on herself – because so many others are queuing up to do just that.
The World No.12 insists she is still hungry for success despite a tail-off in results since last year’s sensational US Open final win.
The 19-year-old has picked up an array of lucrative deals since catapulting her way to stardom in September. And today evian are releasing a new campaign film starring Raducanu and pop star Dua Lipa (above).
But with her new celebrity status has come an avalanche of opinion – from tennis legends to the man on the street – as to why she has yet to replicate her Flushing Meadows glory.
Speaking ahead of the Nottingham Open, where she plays Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic in the first round today, Raducanu (inset) said: “I am proud of what I have achieved over the last 12 months.
“I am not being so hard on myself – I feel there are enough people who can do that job for me. I think I know what I’m doing. I’m trusting what I’m doing and the work I’m doing.
“I’m still 19 and I’ve already won a Grand Slam so I can take my time and put things in place because I know my motivation isn’t any less.
“It is still as much but it isn’t always going to be smooth sailing where you just clean up every week. I trust what I do.”
And following he rapid rise the teenager admits she is now learning things “backwards”.
She said: “I don’t think anyone would say, ‘I wish I didn’t wish a Grand Slam at 18’ because that is what I set out to do when I started playing– and I did that.
“For that to happen very soon definitely comes with a lot of challenges – but managing, learning and growing through the adversities that I have faced, I would much rather have that, learn from those experiences and keep building and progressing. I am doing the work from that because I did it a bit backwards.”
Today will be her first Tour-level match in Britain since Wimbledon – and as a Major champion. Incredibly, last year’s Nottingham tournament, which was won by the now-retired Johanna Konta, was Raducanu’s first ever WTA experience.
If Raducanu wins today she will face fellow Brit Heather Watson. But the 30-year-old may withdraw after suffering a hamstring injury in her firstround clash with American Katie Volynets, who she beat 6-4 6-2.
And Britain’s No.2 Dan Evans – the Nottingham tournament’s top seed – booked his place in the second round with a 7-5 7-6 victory over France’s Enzo Couacaud.