“We’ll see her at the top of the game in no time”: British Captain's bold prediction for Emma Raducanu's future

The captain of the British Billie Jean King Cup team, Anne Keothavong, commented on the level Emma Raducanu displayed in her third-round Wimbledon defeat to Aryna Sabalenka. The former US Open champion twice held an advantage against the Belarusian but couldn't sustain her level until the very end.

Sabalenka faced a tough challenge on Centre Court—with the crowd against her, a rare occurrence—and ultimately prevailed with a strong run of games at the end, winning 7-6(6), 6-4. The Belarusian returns to the Wimbledon fourth round, where she will face 24th seed Elise Mertens.

After the match, Anne Keothavong, who was keenly watching the encounter, expressed her excitement about the level Raducanu showed against Sabalenka. "Emma, she played some of her best stuff out there, but you have to give credit to Aryna Sabalenka because when it came to those big moments, she showed us why she’s No. 1 in the world. But for most of the match, I actually thought that Emma was playing better tennis."

"I do think if Emma can really take confidence, which I hope she will take confidence from this performance and continue to build, then I have no doubt that we’ll see her at the top of the game in no time,” she added. “It was great to see Emma come so close, she would’ve been devastated after that match. And I think she was in her press conference really upset. There’s still so much to be positive about and hopefully she’ll be able to reflect on that in the next few days.”

“There were times where I was wondering, ‘Gosh, this is so good, is she going to be able to sustain it?’ For a lot of the time, for most this match, I think she surprised a lot of people that she was able to challenge the world No. 1 and live with her.”

“She’s a smart girl, she’s an intelligent tennis player, and she’s able to adapt and we saw that from her last night. I think using the crowd as well and getting the energy from everyone and channelling it into her tennis, she was able to transfer that into her game well.

“It just came down to a few points. In the second set, she did a great job getting to 4-1 ahead but then just seemed to run out of a little bit of steam. As soon as you drop your energy levels, just by a fraction, the world No. 1 is going to come back at you and take advantage of that.”

“It really is fine margins, the challenge is now going wherever she plays next, finding that energy, finding those feelings again, finding that kind of confidence and going out and doing it on a more consistent basis,” Raducanu’s BJK Cup captain explained.

Raducanu couldn't defend the points obtained in 2024 by reaching the fourth round and will drop a couple of positions in the rankings, currently to world No. 45, losing her position as British No. 1 to No. 3, having been surpassed by Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal (who is still in competition).

“I think it’ll take a few days to really sink in and reflect properly on it. Emotions will still probably be high, I don’t know whether she got any sleep last night, adrenaline levels would’ve been high,” Anne Keothavong added. “She’s a fierce competitor in her own right and she would’ve been gutted about the end result, but hopefully proud. She should feel proud with her performance during this grass court season and continue to build. And the fact that she leaves Wimbledon in a better place than when she started.”