Emma Raducanu first came under the spotlight at Wimbledon last year and has not left since. Venue: All England Club Dates: June 27-July 10 Show: Live on BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage of BBC iPlayer, Red Button, connected TVs and the mobile app.
Emma Raducanu’s first Wimbledon after her victory at the US Open is unlikely to be the place to soften expectations.
She is the British number one, Grand Slam champion and an obvious candidate for charging at Central Court.
The fact that she has been battling injuries and has not stopped at coaching will do nothing to reduce her excitement levels – because that doesn’t work in your home Grand Slam tournament.
“It’s all about you as a British Wimbledon player. How many newspapers, online sites, how many journalists there are,” former Britain’s number one Greg Rusedski told BBC Sport.
“We become very British, especially if there is someone who we think can win the title or has a chance to win the title.
“With Emma and what she has achieved, there are huge expectations.”
So how will she cope and do we all – fans, media and her opponents – expect too much?
What a difference a year makes
A year ago, the British teenager number 10 made her debut in the main circuit of Wimbledon with minimal turmoil on court 18.
There was a 4-1 downfall for the first set, followed by a 6-0 second set, but then the media and the public had bigger names to watch to think too much.
By the end of the second round, this 18-year-old woman was the only Briton left in the singles draw – until the end of the third, the only point from the British.
And so the spotlight turned firmly on Emma Raducanu, and the story of an “A-level student to a tennis star” captured the imagination and the headlines when she reached the fourth round.
Her run ended when she withdrew from her last match against Ayla Tomlyanovich due to difficulty breathing, later saying that the “whole experience” of the whirlwind week had “caught up” with her.
Only two months later came that unbelievable and magical triumph at the US Open, and with it the answer to how she copes with the pressure of the big event.
But this was an event without expectations. She was a qualifier then, but is now in the top 10.
Rusedski called on all who watched her at Wimbledon to be patient: “Let’s give her time. This time will be the most difficult.
How is her fitness?
Emma Raducanu’s last tournament was in Nottingham, where she retired with side stress
After her triumph at the US Open, Raducanu had three withdrawals in the middle of the match, as a series of perplexities prevented her during her first full year on the WTA tour.
She struggled with blisters on her arm on the rocket in her defeat in the second round of the Australian Open in January, withdrew with a leg injury in a first-round match in Mexico in February, bathed blisters on her legs in the surgical spirit of the Billy Cup Jean King drew in April and had a problem in Madrid in May.
She also had Covid at the end of last year, while her Wimbledon record was not perfect after side tensions forced her to retire in just seven games in her first game at Nottingham. She then withdrew from Birmingham due to the problem and did not play in Eastbourne.
Earlier, she said that her physical problems were disappointing and that she was doing everything possible to overcome them.
It is very possible that if her profile had not grown due to the success of the US Open, the natural process of her body to become healthier to cope with the harshness of life on tour, would not have attracted so much attention.
The mother of three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray Judy said earlier this month that her son had “a number of recurring physical problems” when moving from the juniors to the main tour.
In an article in The Daily Telegraph, she wrote: “In particular, he suffered from many spasms. His body was fully prepared for the demands of the lower rungs of the chain, but not necessarily for the heavier blows, the longer, more severe rallies and stronger opponents he faced in the Tour.
“What is becoming increasingly clear is that Radukanu’s body needs time to mature.”
Is her ranking a true reflection of her form?
If you took down 2,000 points from the rankings she won at the US Open, her ranking would be 60 or so in the world, not 11.
She obviously won these points – and in a brilliant way – but they elevated her to a position that can be seen as higher than what her other results suggest is her “natural” ranking.
She has not won three consecutive games since her triumph in New York and her two Grand Slam tournaments since then – the Australian Open and the French Open – have finished in the second round.
With the ranking comes not only the expectations from the audience, but also from the other players.
“It’s different when you’re a person who can have a target on his back,” said Raducanu, who finished 338th at last year’s Wimbledon, earlier this year.
“Everyone is boosting their game, they want to play well, they want to beat you, they want to take you out. This is something I definitely learned during the tour this year and I just accepted it.”
Do off-court activities take too much time?
Radukanu’s agent, Max Eisenbud, does not think she is overburdened with trade requirements. He told the BBC’s Sports Desk podcast that IMG had “left millions of dollars off the table” by limiting it to a maximum of 18 sponsorship days a year.
Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, who won the 2017 French Open as a 19-year-old, can connect with Raducanu and the whirlwind that is still in her whirlwind while appearing on the front covers of magazines has been invited to brilliant events. and fills his Instagram page with plugs for the nine major brands with which he has sponsorship agreements.
With the Grand Slam title comes opportunities off the court – some lucrative, some glamorous, all time consuming.
“The good thing is that they all know you at home and everyone looks at you as an idol,” Ostapenko, 25, told BBC Sport.
“But the hardest thing was just to get used to all this pressure, things are changing around you, everyone wants interviews, photo shoots, all these things, but you still have to train at the same time.
“So it was really hard to get used to it and also everyone expected you to win every tournament.
“It took me a while to get used to him. I don’t think I was ready to win the Grand Slam at that early age, because it’s every tennis player’s dream, and when you reach it at 19, you may also lose a little bit of motivation. “
Tracy Austin, who won the US Open as a 16-year-old in 1979, said she felt “pulled” by all the new demands.
“The world turned upside down because two days later I was at every morning show in the United States, getting contracts thrown at me,” the American told the Sports Desk.
“I was still a teenager and everyone was trying to consume every part of my day, and I just wanted to be a kid and I just wanted to play tennis.”
Last year, Raducanu said she would never cancel a workout or off-court workout, but she may still find that she is being asked if her time is too tight.
Emma Raducanu joined celebrities at the Met Gala days after the triumph at the US Open
Does it matter that she doesn’t have a coach?
Raducanu has failed to stop coaching in the last year.
Nigel Sears was replaced by Andrew Richardson after last year’s Wimbledon, but Richardson’s contract was not renewed despite Raducanu’s success in New York.
Torben Beltz was appointed in November, but they split in April. Since then, the head coach of women’s coach Ian Bates at LTA has been working with Raducanu.
Two-time US Open champion Austin has suggested that it may be a good idea for Raducanu to stay with him for a while while he tries to orient himself in the sudden rise in his profile and ranking.
“There are so many things to fight,” she said.
“You need a really good team around you that includes your family, who make sensible decisions. Does this really matter? Will this help me? Could this ruin my career?
“I think it would be useful for Emma to find someone she was very comfortable with and stay with him for a while so you could make a list. What should we work on? Where are the disadvantages? Where are the strengths? I need to improve both and just get that level of comfort in person. ”
Will he ever win another Grand Slam tournament?
Of course, no one can know the answer to this.
Former Serena Williams coach Patrick Muratoglu is among those who predict she could win many more big trophies, but former Britain’s number one John Lloyd may have put it best in his comment to the BBC’s Queen’s last year. week:
“I don’t think it will be a miracle for a helmet – and if so, what of it?” That’s also very special. ”
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