Andy Murray believes lack of competitive tennis during pandemic aided Raducanu's rise

Former World No.1 Andy Murray stated that last year's Covid-19 lockdowns may have actually helped Emma Raducanu, allowing the British teenager to improve her game.

Raducanu stormed to the US Open singles title last month, becoming the first qualifier in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title. The 18-year old will return to the courts in California this week, as she competes at the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells.

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Murray believes that the lack of competitive play during the lockdowns last year may have helped her, allowing the teenager to work on and improve her game.

"The last 18 months prior to the grass season and Wimbledon she didn’t compete a whole lot, which in some ways allowed her to make some technical changes to her game and develop,” said Murray.

“Usually around that age, 17 and 18-year-olds are competing a lot. They are on the junior tour and drip feeding into senior tournaments as well. Maybe that period gave her the opportunity to fix some technical issues in her game. She does seem to have improved her serve and forehand.”

The three-time Grand Slam champion went on to imply Raducanu still had room for improvement, and would be a threat to higher-ranked players if she continued to adapt.

“Often what separates the elite athletes from that level just below is that ability to learn quickly and process information,” added Murray. “Not everyone can do that but the top players and really elite athletes are able to do that.

“I haven’t spent loads of time with her on a tennis court but it wouldn’t surprise me if she picked things up extremely quickly.”