Greg Rusedski has revealed he feels “sorry” for Emma Raducanu because the “joy and freedom” have gone since she won the US Open. The British No.1 pulled out of this week’s Madrid Masters with a nagging wrist injury and will now fall out of the world’s top 100.
This followed a tense pre-tournament press call where she spoke only 58 words in response to 16 questions. Raducanu, 20, must now decide if she will abort her claycourt season and prepare for Wimbledon where she will need a wildcard.
Former British No.1 Rusedski, who reached the 1997 US Open final, tweeted: “I am digesting the Emma Raducanu press conference from Madrid and I have to say I feel sorry for her. She did the hardest thing you can possibly do in tennis and win a major from qualifying which we will never see again in our lifetime.
“Yes there has not been a consistent team around her since her victory which is unfortunate, but she was not prepared for global superstardom after winning the US Open. She has felt too much expectation ever since and pressure. The freedom and joy have unfortunately disappeared. I really hope she can find the love of the game she once had and enjoy her tennis.
“I have a sneaky suspicion that she might just get that wild card into Wimbledon,” he said on Tennis Channel. “It’s been a strange deal since the US Open. Obviously the expectations that comes along with it, coming from nowhere, coming from qualifying is obviously a lot to ask.
“The thing about these injuries is there’s seems to be a lot of stop and start, there hasn’t been an injury that’s kept her out let’s say two or three months at a time. It’s always been a week here, a week there but never actually taking away a big chunk of time so hopefully that’s still the case and we’re not dealing with something more serious.
“We’re coming up on a couple years since that US Open victory and I thought Reilly’s [Opelka] definitely right with you have to be able to learn the ins and outs of the tour, but we’re almost two years on from that now. You hope she’s getting the right advice on how to go about the program.
“Not just with the wrist and this exit from Madrid but about the January through November, how are we going to pace ourselves. What are we going to play? What surfaces am I best on?
“I think it’s really hard to boil these down so a focused set of advice is something. It seems there are a lot of voices in the room and it doesn’t seem super focused but we hope she gets back and healthy because she is a superstar.”
