Raducanu’s joyful journey
Neil
MCLEMAN REPORTING FROM MADRID
EMMA RADUCANU has ruminated on her crazy year since finishing her A-levels and said: “I would have taken everything that’s happened since”. And the US Open champion admitted she is learning to take “more pleasure in the journey” of her young career.
The Bromley teenager has gone from unknown schoolgirl to an instant tennis superstar as the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title.
And despite splitting with coach Torben Beltz in recent days, she has reached the second round of the Madrid Masters and faces Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk today.
Raducanu was relaxed and chatty as she spoke to British reporters at the Caja Magica after beating Tereza Martincova for her fourth win in three different countries in her first clay campaign.
And with a beaming smile, the world No.11 said: “It’s funny because I was on my phone today, I looked at it and it sent me the memories. One year ago today, I took my last maths exam, my paper three.
“I was just reflecting on that and I was like, ‘Oh my God, like 365 days ago I was literally sat in an exam hall doing paper three.’
“I would have taken everything that’s happened and dealt with any sort of downs or losses, or whatever those feelings are, if you would have given me what I’ve had in the last year. It definitely gave me a lot of satisfaction and made me very proud of myself, so I was really looking forward to carrying on.”
Raducanu, now 19, got an
A* in maths and an A in economics but her results on the tennis court were not immediately as successful.
“It’s funny because that afternoon, after my morning exam, I went to go hit some balls because I had to get ready very quickly for the grass season,” she recalled. “I didn’t play tennis for like two months.
“I actually played a Brit Tour at Connaught the week after my exams and lost and I was really considering what was going on.
“And then the week after I managed to win one very ugly and it kept me going.
“I had that mindset of just picking yourself up when you feel like you’re at the lowest of the low – I’m like, ‘My head’s in the bin’ – but then I got back up, and all was good and I had a great grass season.”
Raducanu’s rapid success has been accompanied with massive interest in her life and a long list of sponsors, though she had to endure a run of defeats and injuries, and had a stalker to contend with.
“Life in a way was simpler back then because it’s 100 per cent just you and your tennis,” she said.
“And I think that it definitely took me a while to adjust to everything that’s been going on. “But if you would have told me any of the results I’ve had this year – just winning a round in Australia, for example
– I feel that would have been a good result for someone who is 19 if I hadn’t have won the US Open
“But in more recent weeks, I have definitely just taken more pleasure in the journey of it. Even when I’m losing, I find it a great challenge to pick myself back up.”
PLAYERS from Russia and Belarus have hired a human rights lawyer in
Paris to look into challenging their ban from Wimbledon and LTA events. The All England Club insisted there was “no viable option”
to excluding players from both countries following the invasion of Ukraine. But the group of players want to play under a neutral flag, like on the ATP and
WTA Tours and at the
French Open.