Emma Raducanu brands claims she's cracking under pressure 'a joke' after Wimbledon exit
Emma Raducanu branded suggestions that she is under pressure as “a joke” after crashing out of her third consecutive Grand Slam in the second round in her defeat against Caroline Garcia.
Since Raducanu’s stunning victory at September’s US Open, her global fame has consistently outstripped her performance levels. So did all the hoopla and expectation contribute to Wednesday’s listless display? She scoffed at the very suggestion.
It’s true that Raducanu was the victim of a commanding display of first-strike tennis from Garcia. But when she arrived in the interview room, and faced multiple questions about life in the spotlight, Raducanu described the idea of pressure as “a joke”.
“I am 19-years-old,” she replied. “Yes, I have had attention. But I'm a slam champion, so no one's going to take that away from me. Yeah, if anything, the pressure is on those who haven't done that. Like, why is there any pressure? It's a joke. I literally won a slam.”
Raducanu was barely competitive in Wednesday’s match, showing none of the proactivity we remember from New York last autumn. A dispirited Centre Court crowd had to find encouragement where they could, once offering an ovation when she missed a first serve and plucked Garcia’s irrelevant return out of the air with her left hand.
Instead of pressure being a factor in her 6-3, 6-3 defeat – which came up in just 86 minutes – Raducanu pointed to a couple of physical factors that had prevented her from establishing her rhythm.
First she admitted to struggling with the wind, which blew strongly towards the Royal Box and may have contributed to four of her five failed service games coming at that end. And then she also referenced the side strain that had allowed her to accumulate only seven hours of court time in the last month.
At her post-match press conference, Raducanu was also asked whether her opponents have worked out her game, having been ambushed by her sudden emergence last summer. This was a point also made by her opponent. “Everyone knows you when you’re doing great, which is her case,” said Garcia, the Frenchwoman who has been ranked as high as No4 in the world.
Raducanu concurred with Garcia’s verdict, before adding that “it will make me a better player because they [her rivals] are just highlighting all my weaknesses. When you do it on a big court like that, it's definitely magnified. It's just great for me to get all these lessons at such a young age so that when I'm in my mid-20s, I'll have those issues or little glitches in my game sorted.”
And what about all the extra attention she can expect when she moves on to the American hard-court swing, in preparation for defending her US Open title
“Going back to New York, it's going to be cool because I have got a lot of experiences playing on big courts, playing with people in the stadium, playing with the spotlight on you. I don't mind that. I mean, for me, everything is learning. I'm embracing every single moment that is thrown at me.”
Raducanu finished her interview-room appearance by answering a question from the Radio Shanghai reporter in fluent Mandarin. She left with a smile on her face, turning to her English-speaking inquisitors and asking “Did any of you lot understand that?”
She certainly gives every impression of being at peace with her strange lifestyle. But one of the other British women in the second round – Harriet Dart, who stands next to Raducanu at No65 in the list of this year’s most successful WTA Tour players – expressed sympathy for her.
“It's so challenging,” said Dart. “She's so young. I really feel for her. It's going to take her time to kind of adjust to everything. I think it's been totally different for her the last year. Her life has completely changed.
“You have to give her some slack. She's still finding her groove. She's still young and there's a lot to learn. She's got a good team around her. I'm sure she'll find her way.”
