Emma Raducanu ‘losing the respect’ of her peers, top analyst claims
Daniela Hantuchova believes the respect Emma Raducanu earned with her US Open victory is starting to wear off and feels she needs to “regroup and rethink” in order to reach her best levels.
19-year-old British starlet Emma Raducanu garnered the attention of the world when she became the first qualifier to ever win a Grand Slam at the US Open, doing so without dropping a single set against some of the world’s best.
However, Raducanu has struggled for form since her Flushing Meadows success and has only gone further than the second round at just one tournament in the seven months after her historic victory. This came when she reached the quarter-finals of the Transylvania Open.
Whilst World number 13 Raducanu has picked up some notable wins in her first full season on the WTA Tour, she has ultimately struggled with both consistency and injury woes.
Her latest defeat came at the Miami Open where she lost to top ranked doubles player Katerina Siniakova despite making a strong start by taking the first set.
Speaking after Raducanu’s loss to Siniakova, player-turned-analyst Hantuchova said “that was a tough one for Emma. I think it is going to hurt big time because of the chances she had. She was the better player for most of it.
“But the thing is now with Emma, everyone wants to beat her. Everyone is trying to figure out how to play against her.
“All the locker room respect she had after the US Open is now kind of going away which is a shame,” the former World number five claimed.
“It is going to be important now for Emma to regroup, rethink what she has to change and get out there on the practice court.
“There is no other way around it. Just keep putting the hard work in.
“At that age, you want to be fit, you want to show everyone that you are out there, no matter how long it takes. It was humid and it wasn’t easy out there.
“But this is where you have to be tough if you want to win matches like this, if you want to win tournaments like this. And I believe Emma has the level, she just has to find a way to get it out of her.”
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