British legend Andy Murray has come to the defense of Emma Raducanu, who has been under heavy scrutiny for not immediately living up to the level she showed at last year's US Open.
Raducanu's rise to stardom at Flushing Meadows was extraordinary. As a qualifier, she did not drop a set in any of her seven main draw matches to claim the title at Flushing Meadows, stunning fans around the tennis world in the process.
Expectations for the 19-year-old Briton rose considerably for the 2022 season. Understandably, Raducanu has found that difficult to manage, and her results have not matched the unrealistic hopes of many in the British media.
Murray has dealt with the pressures of the local media for many years. Therefore, he is better positioned than anybody to offer his thoughts about Raducanu and what she may be going through.
In an interview with BBC Sport, Murray encouraged the media to give Raducanu some freedom to be herself and cut her some slack for any comments or jokes she makes, especially considering she is still 19 years old.
"Just let her be who she is, and you know, she might say some things that are a joke or maybe she doesn't mean or whatever. There's a few people in this room I'm sure when they were 18 or 19, made some mistakes and did some things they shouldn't have done and said some things they definitely shouldn't have said and athletes are the same.
The three-time Grand Slam champion emphasized that athletes sometimes make mistakes, but they should not be judged unnecessarily harshly for them. He feels that approach would be helpful to Raducanu in particular.
"We will make mistakes and say the wrong things at times but just maybe don't judge us too harshly when we do that and I'm sure that would help Emma a little bit."
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