For four arduous years, so much of Emma Raducanu’s life has played out in public. Every decision relating to her career has been dissected and debated. The most banal details surrounding her personal life have been transfigured into headline news. In order to find herself on and off the tennis court, Raducanu has had to learn how to tune out the noise, which at times can be deafening.
Only one month ago at Wimbledon, the discourse surrounding the 22-year-old reached diabolical lows. Even though her on-court performances were strong, it was impossible to escape the speculation surrounding her personal life. In the bowels of Center Court at the Cincinnati Open, I offer my own blunt perspective: I have never cringed as much as I did while watching people trying to pry into her romantic relationships at the All England Club. “Yeah, and Cam’s questions, too,” Raducanu responds, laughing. “That was terrible. Terrible.”
She was referring to her compatriot Cameron Norrie’s post-match press conference, when a reporter asked him whether he was dating Raducanu. Norrie, who was being supported in his player box that day by his long-term partner, was as baffled as he was bemused. For Raducanu, though, such brazen intrusiveness from strangers has simply become part of her everyday life. “I know, I know,” she says, smiling. “I guess it comes with the territory, people being so curious. I think they’re more curious about this news than any tennis results and tennis news. But I just keep to myself, my private life to one side. It’s always funny when people try to find something out, but I try not to read into it so much.”
That curiosity is not isolated to the internet and tabloids. When Raducanu is out in London, paparazzi will find her, even when she is doing nothing more than stepping on to a 345 bus somewhere in Wandsworth. “It’s really freaky, because you don’t know they’re there. And then you’ll see a photo of yourself the next day, and you’ll be like: ‘There’s no way they were there,’” she says.
Considering her well-documented encounters with stalkers – one was arrested and handed a five-year restraining order after stealing items from her front door in 2021 and another fixated person followed her across four different countries earlier this year – Raducanu has genuine concerns regarding her safety: “After the Dubai incident, that was probably the worst [public attention] I’ve had,” she says. “I remember straight afterwards, I found it very difficult going out. I definitely had a bit of a leftover lag effect. But I’ve been a lot more astute, a lot more, I’d say, safe and I have someone with me. I don’t really go out on my own as much. No solo walks. Just always having someone watching my back.”
Everything leads back to those three fateful weeks at the US Open in the summer of 2021, where Raducanu became the first qualifier to win a grand slam title in the open era. The spoils of victory were significant but Raducanu’s rapid success yielded considerable challenges. Along with the difficult results and constant criticism, her body constantly betrayed her. In 2023, after struggling physically for a long time, she underwent surgeries on both wrists and her left ankle.
Mentally, things were even more challenging. As she failed to follow up her breakthrough victory with similar results, there were times when her mind twisted her US Open triumph into a negative memory, the source of her struggles. It was not until this year that she understood how to focus on her improvement and daily work, however gradual, rather than comparing every result with the 2021 US Open. Still, it remains a work in progress. “It’s [comparisons to the US Open] something that never fully leaves you,” Raducanu says. “I think it’s been four years now, I don’t think it’s fully gone away. Maybe in a few years, maybe when I’m older, more mature, but it’s hard to put that aside completely. It’s always in the back of your mind, but it’s more just being aware of those thoughts and then not letting it crash your day or ruin the work that you’re doing, and bringing it back to what I’m doing now, and the process.”
Emma Raducanu has opened up about her journey since her US Open win, saying she tried sports psychology but found it unhelpful because no one could relate to her unique path. Instead, she’s relied on herself, shaped by her parents’ strict, high-standard upbringing.
Born in Canada to Romanian and Chinese parents and raised in Britain, Raducanu embraces her mixed identity while crediting her family for keeping her grounded. An injury layoff in 2023 gave her time to explore creative hobbies like piano, painting, and philosophy, which she says have influenced her game and outlook.
She also addressed criticism over her coaching changes, explaining many were just trials, and she prefers to stay respectful rather than “out” people. Now working with Francisco Roig, she has rediscovered her joy for tennis, shown in a narrow three-hour loss to world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Cincinnati.
Looking ahead, Raducanu says her main goal is to keep enjoying the daily work: “I’d rather be on court than anywhere else.”
