‘Emma Raducanu needs to learn how to enjoy her tennis,’ says British tennis icon

Sue Barker believes the biggest thing missing for Emma Raducanu may be understanding how to actually enjoy her tennis.

Raducanu became an instant superstar when she won the 2021 US Open and she has struggled to deal with that limelight ever since.

At times, Raducanu appears to have been carrying the weight of that accomplishment and the subsequent expectation onto court with her, and Barker says learning how to relieve herself of that could be the key to her realising her obvious potential.

“She’s got the game and she’s shown she’s got the mindset and physically she’s fabulous,” Barker told The Telegraph.

“I mean, I don’t know about the injuries and what’s happening with those, but she got through the US Open from qualifying.

“I feel that she’s got all the attributes. Now she’s got to learn how to win and maybe how to enjoy it.”

One thing for which Emma Raducanu is regularly criticised is her apparent inability to hold down a coach. She has been through five in her career already with Dmitry Tursunov the latest to take up the role.

Barker agrees that Raducanu would probably benefit from working with one coach for a sustained period, but she has urged people to try to understand the pressure before criticising too much.

“I feel she needs one person that she really trusts and believes in,” Barker said. “Every coach comes in with a different mindset, a different way of wanting to play and a different way of teaching, and to me, that would be totally confusing.

“It would be disruptive before it became effective, but I also feel that the pressure that she’s been put under has just been immense.”

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