Why Emma Raducanu said she ‘sometimes’ wishes she’d never won the US Open back in 2023.
Emma Raducanu, despite boasting just a single career title, remains one of the most well-known figures on the WTA Tour.
After all, that sole triumph came at none other than the US Open, kickstarting her fledgling career as a teenager with a Grand Slam.
It brought the tennis world to a standstill, and the years that have followed that 2021 miracle have been a whirlwind.
However, it has not been the dream that many expected, instead provoking a handful of nightmare seasons for Emma Raducanu as she has desperately sought to live up to impossible expectations.
Emma Raducanu claimed she ‘sometimes’ wishes she’d never won the US Open
In a brutally honest interview with The Times, over two years ago now, Raducanu provided just a brief insight into how difficult it has been for her since that success.
After all, whilst it gave her widespread fame and fortune, the unrealistic and impossible expectations that followed unsurprisingly prohibited her progress.
Only now, since Raducanu hired Francisco Roig, does it really feel like she has found the consistency both on and off the court to promote genuine development.
Alas, with the scrutiny she has faced, it is sad to think about her words from 2023: “That moment on the court, when I was celebrating, I was like, I would literally trade any struggle in the world for this moment. Anything can come my way, I will take it for what I have right now because this is the best thing in the world. I promised myself that, on the court that day.
“Since then I’ve had a lot of setbacks, one after the other. I am resilient, my tolerance is high, but it’s not easy. And sometimes I think to myself I wish I’d never won the US Open, I wish that didn’t happen.
“Then I am like, remember that feeling, remember that promise, because it was completely pure.” “
Emma Raducanu has handled incredible pressure ever since the US Open title in 2021
Being catapulted to that level of fame, effectively overnight, would be a lot for anybody.
However, for an 18-year-old to have her life turned around in such a manner was always bound to be an impossible task to deal with in the years that followed.
What was particularly interesting about Raducanu’s story is that she had not been building towards such a triumph.
When Carlos Alcaraz claimed his maiden major title, the tennis world had heard rumours of this exceptional Spaniard, who was already upsetting the sport’s biggest stars on the biggest stages. Therefore, his 2022 US Open title elevated him, but only as the next natural step in his career.
