“It’s really freaky" - Emma Raducanu unveils hardship from enduring media spotlight after US Open triumph. "I am tough"

Four years on from winning the US Open as an 18-year-old, the tennis world has seemed to watch every footstep of Emma Raducanu. Throughout this time, she has learnt to persist and to deal with the attention, whether positive or negative energy.

She placed her name on the tennis map in 2021 following a successful breakout Grand Slam at Wimbledon, where she reached the fourth round before cruelly being forced to reitre. Following that, she went on an incredible run at Flushing Meadows, first qualifying the event before taking down the likes of Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari, and Leylah Fernandez in the final to become the first qualifier to win a singles Grand Slam in the open era. All without dropping a set.

Unfortunately for Raducanu, she has not been able to hit those precious heights since. She reached a career high ranking of 10th in the world before injuries and a lack of consistency forced her to tumble down the rankings. 2025 has been a positive year for the 22-year-old, who has been reinstated as the number one Brit, along with sitting on the edge of a seed at the US Open.

Within the media, Raducanu is very popular. Journalists and media outlets are always desperate to ask her a few questions and get some of her opinions/views, with some sparking controversy. After the news broke that she would be partnering with world number two Carlos Alcaraz in the revamped US Open mixed doubles, questions were raised about whether the pair were dating. Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Cameron Norrie was even asked in a press conference if he knew, with the unimpressed Brit unsurprisingly shutting the journalist down.

Raducanu labelled these people as curious, as she said: “I guess I’m like, it comes with the territory, people being so curious. I think they’re more curious about this news than any tennis results and tennis news. But I just keep myself to myself, my private life to one side. It’s always funny when people try to find something out, but I try not to read into it so much.

”It is not just in the media, but out in the real world, where she cannot get the privacy she acquires, being hunted down by paparazzi. “It’s really freaky, because you don’t know that they’re there. And then you’ll see a photo of yourself the next day, and you’ll be like: ‘There’s no way they were there,’”

Unfortunately for Raducanu, she has had some disturbing issues affecting her in her day-to-day life. At this year's Dubai Tennis Championships, someone who she had been approached by previously was seated in the first few rows at her match. The man was removed, but that did not stop the public attention from catapulting while the young Brit had to manage it.

"I think after the Dubai incident, that was probably the worst [public attention] I’ve had,” she said. “I remember straight afterwards, I found it very difficult going out. I definitely had a bit of a leftover lag effect. But I’ve been a lot more astute, a lot more, I’d say, safe and have someone with me. I don’t really go out on my own as much. No solo walks. Just always having someone watching my back.”

Raducanu had struggled physically for a long time, and saw her ranking decrease from her lack of tournaments being played due to this problem. In 2023, she had surgery on both of her wrists and left ankle, in a desperate hope that it would eradicate those problems and see her back on court more regularly.

She would go on to miss three of the Grand Slams that year, but since then, her injury woes have become less of a concern, especially this year, after a consistent number of performances and runs in tournaments have pushed her back up the rankings.

At this time, she also had to deal with members of her own team stating that she is not tough enough. She responded to this by saying: “I was obviously like: ‘Oh, no, I am tough enough.’ “And it wasn’t good to hear, because I always prided myself on being a hard worker and being tough. And I believe I am. I actually think it was more the people around me that were maybe incorrect, and I think it led me down to having three surgeries and double wrist surgery, because I was overtraining and just covering it up, not saying anything, and not saying I was in pain, even when I was. So it was really tough to hear. But I think as I’ve grown with experience, I kind of realised my body a bit more and trusted myself a bit more.”

Notions like this mentally held Raducanu back, along with the pressure of performing consistently to the heights she produced at Flushing Meadows in 2021. Since then, her best Grand Slam result came at last year's Wimbledon, where she reached the fourth round as a wildcard, reminiscent of 2021. With these results not hitting the peaks of that maiden Grand Slam win, that previous triumph started to turn into a negative memory for her.

“It’s something that never fully leaves you. I think it’s been four years now, I don’t think it’s fully gone away," Raducanu said. "Maybe in a few years, maybe when I’m older, more mature, but it’s hard to put that aside completely. It’s always in the back of your mind, but it’s more just being aware of those thoughts and then not letting it crash your day or ruin the work that you’re doing, and bringing it back to what I’m doing now, and the process.”

She has followed that US Open success with two first-round defeats in 2022 and 2024, as she sets her sights on another deep run in New York. It may be tougher due to the fact that she is not a seed for the event, but the Brit has proved that she can excel when portrayed as the underdog.