Emma Raducanu's uncertain future could serve as fuel for her detractors, according to tennis broadcaster

British tennis star Emma Raducanu has reached a crossroads at this point in her career, as she is still unsure of whether or not to compete at the 2024 French Open. Nonetheless, her critics are eagerly waiting for her to make the wrong move, according to tennis broadcaster Marcus Buckland.

The 2021 US Open champion is currently undecided on whether she will compete at the upcoming Roland Garros event, as her current protected ranking leaves her just outside the automatic places to secure a spot in the main draw at Roland Garros. Compounding matters, Raducanu has also entered a WTA 500 event taking place in the same week as French Open qualifying, leaving many to ponder at her plans.

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In a recent interview, Buckland spoke on how Raducanu's fate could change how she is perceived by fans and detractors alike. With the grass court season looming, the British star will be forced to perform in front of her home fans. Being thrust into the spot light at home could be seen as a blessing or a curse, says Buckland.

“I’m always so careful when I mention Emma Raducanu,” said Buckland. “As we see with fans of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, they are very protective of their heroes and the same goes for Raducanu fans. I understand why they feel like that. We all know her story with the amazing breakthrough and then the big down after that.
Now it feels like she is moving in the right direction again, but I honestly don’t know what to expect. She put together a string of great performances and then we saw a frustrating defeat at the Madrid Open and we haven’t seen her since. It will be really interesting to see how she deals with the spotlight that will inevitably fall on her when the grass court season comes around in Britain.

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I feel she is dealing with it well now and we all have to remember what a brutal sport tennis is. You could be playing really well, get a tough draw against a top ten player and you can lose. I just hope that she is allowed to continue to develop without too much negative attention directed towards her. The way some of the media work now, there is sometimes a batter angle to go with the negative rather than the positive and Raducanu has experienced that over the last couple of years."