Billie Jean King on pressure felt by Raducanu: “I hope everybody just backs up, it’s like she has no breathing room"

Billie Jean King would like to see the public back off from Raducanu and give her time to sort things out and refocus on tennis.

Emma Raducanu became a superstar when she won the US Open out of nowhere becoming the best-ranked British player in the world. It created a lot of buzz around the player with many placing very strong expectations on her.

Many warned against it, former players the most, but still the public was utterly shocked by the results Raducanu produced this year. The British player failed to win a single trophy never even playing a final let alone a deep run at a grand slam event.

Billie Jean King would like to see people back off a little bit:

"Our job is to give her time and space. Let Emma decide what is best for her, not have everyone else deciding for her. Glean the information that pertains to her. I hope everybody just backs up. It’s like she has no breathing room. Give her some time to breathe, some space. She’s really young. Give her time.”

On Raducanu itself, she said:

"First of all, you can’t pay attention to what anyone says about you. And don’t take anything personally. But then you’ve got to find the right person to talk to. And that’s the hard part because everyone has an opinion. It’s important for her to find out what she wants in life. She needs to search her own soul."