Being Emma Raducanu is not the easiest task. For all the positives that come with achieving fame early, as she did after her stunning US Open triumph as an 18-year-old in 2021, the obligations and attention can be intense. Invariably when she plays her photo is splashed on the back pages and her every move is scrutinised. At Wimbledon the attention grows exponentially and nothing is off limits, as Raducanu discovered when she batted away questions about a possible romance with Carlos Alcaraz, a longtime friend, with whom she will play mixed doubles at the US Open.
As Andy Murray learned over many years, dealing with all that takes experience and patience. No wonder, then, that Raducanu says she is not looking much further than her first-round battle with the 17-year-old Welsh player Mimi Xu on Monday. “Truthfully I don’t expect much from myself this year,” she said on the eve of the event.
