Former British number one Annabel Croft spoke about Raducanu and the challenge of judging her career under a tremendous amount of pressure.
The British player came under the spotlight after winning the US Open in impressive fashion to create one of the most unlikely tennis stories in recent memory. Raducanu is still and probably always will be the only qualifier to ever win a grand slam but time will tell.
Her newfound fame came with a lot of pressure and expectations with the latter not being met this year. Croft gave her verdict on the situation:
“We know how good she is because we saw that at the US Open (in 2021), she is such an amazing athlete, she is so intelligent and it will just take time for her to settle down to her newfound fame. Her life has changed overnight and that is a lot to cope with for someone so young. The talent is there and she can get it back on track quite quickly."
She continued:
“She is doing her apprenticeship back to front and it will take time. To think that she has gone from 300 in the world to a Grand Slam champion and everyone wanting a piece of her and every match she plays being on a centre court. That has to be difficult."
Raducanu had hoped to play at the
Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November but won't due to a wrist injury.