2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Monica Puig is not playing anymore but she's well aware of what it takes to be a successful player.
The Olympic champion saw her career get destroyed by injuries which was unfortunate but before that Puig was a rather good player. She sees that potential in Emma Raducanu but she will need to develop and further understand who she is as a player. Speaking to Sky Sports, Puig said:
She still needs time to develop and time to find out who she is as a tennis player, who she is as a person and I can sympathise with her because when I won the Olympics it came out of nowhere. I didn't have as much media attention as she does and I can only imagine coming from the UK where something like that is so big. It just exploded.
Like many others, Puig underlines the need to keep the goals small and work your way towards the big ones. Raducanu is a Grand Slam champion but winning Grand Slams is too much of a goal right now as she's finding herself as a professional player.
Let go of the expectation after winning a Grand Slam. First it's small goals so quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals consistently of 250 events. Maybe win a couple more matches in a row and work on things on the court. See your opponents. What are they doing to you? Where are the holes in my game and start filling in those holes by practising more on those things. It can take the pressure off her back.
Puig also warned her against social media and how negative of an impact it can have a on player. Many tennis media members spoke about Raducanu seeming distracted from tennis.
Don't focus on social media because we all know that social media is a great tool to boost your brand but it can be toxic especially for a person like Raducanu who has so many people following her and so many people who want to see her succeed and also a lot of people who don't. You're not going to have everybody who loves you. You're going to have those who are not going to like you.
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