Emma Raducanu 'stubborn in certain areas' as she is told to stop 'overthinking' and find solutions
09/17/2024 02:40 AM
Emma Raducanu was always “going to have a pretty bumpy couple of years” following her US Open fairytale, but Mark Petchey believes she now has to start making decisions that will help her to get over that hump.
Raducanu enjoyed one of the most astonishing runs at Flushing Meadows in 2021 when she became the first qualifier – man or woman – to win a Grand Slam as she lifted her first top-level singles trophy without dropping a set.
She climbed into the top 10 of the WTA Rankings in 2022 on the back of that result, but her journey since then has been anything but smooth as she has struggled with form and injuries.
The 21-year-old has also made some questionable moves as she has hired and fired several coaches over the past three years while her decision to play only one warm-up tournament ahead of the 2024 US Open also came under scrutiny.
Tennis commentator Petchey, who coached former world No 1 Andy Murray at the start of his career, admits Raducanu has been “stubborn” with certain elements, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
“I’m a big believer that you don’t really make mistakes at Emma Raducanu's age,” he told Bally Casino.
“I think you make decisions and then you see solutions and that’s where we find ourselves with Emma at the moment and where she finds herself.
“I always said right after she had the fairytale run in New York that she was going to have a pretty bumpy couple of years. But I hoped that some things would have been different and not quite so rough for her, as I’m sure the people around her would have hoped for too.
“She’s stubborn in certain areas which is a great quality in tennis, you need that. You need to have a certain self-reliance; you need to be able to put things to one side and entertain thoughts that you don’t necessarily always need to implement into your game, but you must consider things. I’m sure she now wishes that some things had been different.”
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Former British player Petchey, though, believes Raducanu needs to start taking action if she wants to move forward.
He added: “But the reality of life is that if you find yourself at a crossroads, you need to make another decision about how you go forward from here.
“From Emma’s perspective right now, there’s no point looking back over the last couple of years overthinking, it’s all wasted energy. Hopefully, the bumpy ride has shown her a roadmap or a signpost of where she wants to go from here to progress as a player.”
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