I have stated in the past that Emma Raducanu, is unfit emotionally, mentally, and physically for the professional tennis way of life and not so long ago I boldly stated that she will retire in 24 months as a consequence. She has talent clearly but it takes much more to be a long-term success at pro tennis.
Harsh words and a harsh assessment, I admit that. But I am a realist and I am trying to be real and honest.
Note: yes, I am not discussing or writing about cats. The reason? I have written about 25,000 pages about cats which is astonishing. It even surprises me. It has taken 17 years of non-stop writing every day without any breaks. I’m not looking for plaudits for that I’m just explaining why this page is about a tennis player and has nothing to do with cats. I can say though that Emma Raducanu has a dog companion who no doubt she loves tremendously. 💕😊
There are numerous indications in her behaviour which support my assessment. Some are well documented in the past and if you’d like to click on the following link you can read about some of those instances and my assessment that she will retire in 24 months. It might not be exactly 24 months but it will be relatively soon.
Before the sunshine swing of American hard court tournaments last year she said:
“I think I’m just going to go home and practice, and we’ll see where I go from there. It’s hard for me to get used to the tour schedule. It’s just tournament back, tournament straight away, so I think that I need to schedule my tournaments a little better, as well as just trying to get some more matches under my belt.”
Emma Raducanu
Indicative of an inability to stick at it which is what the top pros always do.
And, today, in The Times newspaper there are more indications that she is simply not up to the lifestyle of a tennis professional. On two occasions she has used the word brutal” to describe the tennis pro’s lifestyle. And expressed her tiredness.
In the past he has stated that the tennis scoring system is brutal meaning that it can be difficult to get across the line and win which I see as a complaint about tennis – not a good sign. And recently she has complained about the fact that she completed three tournaments on the trot saying that the experience was brutal meaning too hard for Emma Raducanu. You don’t hear that kind of complaint from top 10 professionals (her declared aspiration).
They keep their mouths shut and keep their heads down and get on with the work for which they are gifted. It’s a treasure to be talented like Emma Raducanu. It’s a gift and it should be welcomed and employed to best advantage. There is no mileage in complaining about it especially to the public at news conferences.
This I take as an indication that she is not committed to being a professional. And I think this mentality has been present for a long time. In fact since about a year after she won the 2021 U.S. Open as a qualifier when it dawned on her that the pro tennis life was hard.
I’m going to use a more harsh words. I think that her US Open triumph was somewhat of a fluke because throughout the entire tournament she did not meet up with a top 10 player. She was riding high on excellent form and a naïve approach to tournament play which saw her through.
It was a great win and she deserves all the in the world for it but I don’t see her winning any other tournament in the future. Her current ranking is 221. She wants to get back into the top 10 which is not going to happen for the reasons stated above. This will demotivate her more.
She attended a party in Dubai just 48 hours before her opening match at the Qatar Open in February and admitted she struggled with “everything” as she lost the first set in 22 minutes as she crashed to defeat.
Express newspaper discussing Raducanu’s lack of dedication.
Anne Keothavong’s appraisal
Emma the professional did not show up and when you do that, you don’t stand a chance. The final return was: ‘Get me off the court.’ She just wasn’t in a mindset where she was competing.
Anne Keothavong commenting on the Madrid Open performance.
It isn’t just me who is critical of her attitude. Rather surprisingly the respected tennis commentator, Anne Keothavong is also critical of Raducanu in a rather outspoken way after her 6-2 6-2 defeat by a tennis player ranked number 82 from Argentina at the Madrid Open.
In that match, she looked disinterested according to Keothavong who is a former pro tennis player herself. Keothavong was watching the match from the Sky Sports commentary booth.
The Times report tells us that Keothavong “struggled to offer any positivity about what she had witnessed.”
Raducanu made so many errors from the get go. It looked as though she didn’t want to be there. She was taking risky shots and making too many mistakes. She appeared to have no interest in fighting back during the match. As I understand it she indicated that she was tired before the match and confirmed that after the match. Not a good sign.
Raducanu was incapable of playing three tournaments on the trot which seems to be fairly normal for a tennis professional. In the past she has suffered from anxiety I would argue and that might have been the reason why she pulled out of Wimbledon during her initial years as a tennis pro.
She has had many rather mysterious injuries to various parts of her body some of which I would argue are due to a desire not to play in demonstrating hypochondria brought on by anxiety. More harsh words I realise but I just feel I need to express my opinion here.
After the match in which she lost in winning only four games, her worst performance as a professional in terms of games won, she said:
“I think I’m going to just take a few days off and rest a little bit because I’ve been going non-stop for the last month. I’m going to just recharge a little bit. It was very clear that mentally and emotionally I was exhausted. I was trying to push through and I was just unable to today. I guess the sport is just pretty brutal.”
Raducanu
This was her 16th match of the year. Hardly arduous. She almost says that the sport is brutal as a surprise to her. She’s discovering how tough it is. The glamorous world of professional tennis is not so glamorous. It is hard work and particularly hard work if you are a top player trying to maintain your position and ranking. That’s why the top pros demand all the praise and recognition that the can get.
But as I said, over her entire career after her win at the 2021 U.S. Open, Emma Raducanu has demonstrated to me that she does not possess the emotional, mental and physical attributes required to be a successful tennis professional and she will accept that over the next couple of years and gracefully retire.
She can do a lot more in other areas and she probably has about £50 million in the bank and therefore she does not have to work at all for the rest of her life.
Photo credit: By si.robi – Raducanu WMQ18 (16), CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71047731
