‘Sometimes I think to myself, ‘I wish I had never won the US Open”: Emma Raducanu admits her shocking Grand Slam success at 18 weighs heavily on her as she opens up to the ‘sharks’ and considered her a ‘piggy bank’
- Emma Raducanu says she sometimes wishes she hadn’t won the 2021 US Open
- Since finding fame as an 18-year-old, Raducanu has struggled with injuries
- Raducanu added that many “sharks” in tennis see her as a “piggy bank.”
Emma Raducanu has opened up about her brutal time on the tennis tour and admitted she sometimes wishes she had never won the 2021 US Open after being used like a “piggy bank” by the industry “sharks”.
Raducanu, now 20, will miss Wimbledon and the US Open after wrist and ankle surgery and has fallen to 128 in the world rankings.
“When I won I was extremely naive,” Raducanu told the Sunday Times. “What I’ve realized over the last two years, the Tour and everything that entails, is that it’s not a very beautiful, trusting and safe space.”
“You have to be careful because there are a lot of sharks out there.” I think people in the industry, especially me because I was 19 and now 20, see me as a piggy bank.
“It was difficult to find your way around. I got burned a few times.
Emma Raducanu has revealed she sometimes wishes she didn’t win the 2021 US Open
Raducanu has struggled with injuries and changed coaches several times
“I’ve learned to keep the circle as small as possible.”
Raducanu’s struggles since she made history in New York are well documented, from her constant coaching changes to her numerous commercial commitments to her injury-related setbacks. And she laid bare the pressures that go into this highly competitive sport, adding: “I don’t think it’s mentally bad to take a break, start over and get really hungry for it again.”
At the 2021 US Open, which she won by beating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3, Raducanu said, “Since then I’ve had a lot of setbacks, one after the other.” I’m resilient, my tolerance is high, but it’s not easy. And sometimes I think to myself, I wish I had never won the US Open, I wish that hadn’t happened.
“Then I think, remember that feeling, remember that promise, because it was totally pure.”
Raducanu recently split from her coach Sebastian Sachs.
Raducanu, who is ranked No. 128 in the world, recently parted ways with coach Sebastian Sachs