Andy Roddick discussed Emma Raducanu in the most recent episode of his Served podcast. He described himself as a fan who is puzzled by some of her choices.
The American's latest comments add Roddick to a growing group of analysts who were left puzzled by Raducanu's career choices. While she's proudly described herself as someone who does things differently, Raducanu is slowly starting to realize that some things in tennis are a certain way because they work.
There were many players before her, and if they all did something a certain way, then it's because it probably worked. Every player can add their own twist to it, but trying to reinvent the wheel in a sport over 100 years old doesn’t work.
She had to humbly admit that her scheduling choices ahead of the US Open were not good, even though she likely would have sworn by them before she got knocked out in the opening round of the event.
Roddick described himself as a huge fan and believer in her potential on his podcast, but he also thinks that some of the decisions she makes don't help her at all, which is a shame because a player shouldn't undermine their potential with questionable choices.
"I am a fan of hers and I think sometimes she gets treated unfairly and also she doesn’t do herself any favours with scheduling and decisions. I can’t figure out where I’m at with it."
"It’s like she won’t play qualies at all for whatever reason, pulled out of the French [Open] once she had to play qualies and it’s not a good look when someone who has the pedigree of Naomi Osaka decides to play qualies in Cincinnati and she’s not too proud to do it."
Raducanu was playing well at Wimbledon, but then started to struggle a bit and just didn't keep playing after that. Then she appeared at the Citi Open in Washington and had a good run, but then again, she cut that momentum short by going back home to London.
"But Raducanu has a great run I feel like she almost creates her own speed bumps and getting back to where she wants to go. Wimbledon, she plays well for a minute. I was like, ‘Gosh, is this going to, like, is she going to make a run?’."
"All of a sudden kind of disappear and then come back and make a run again. DC she plays, makes semis but gets through a bunch of matches and then doesn’t get wildcards so she goes home for three weeks, doesn’t play anymore."
To Roddick, the Brit's decision made no sense because the moment she found some kind of form, she just stopped playing, which is the last thing a tennis player should want to do, especially one who's missed a lot of time with injuries.
"After having played back to back, as a player, when you’re coming back, you want to build those weeks where it’s like, okay, fourth round of a Slam semis of a tournament, let’s keep it going, let’s keep building."
"The last thing you want is a stop sign at that point and especially a self-imposed stop sign before the US Open she comes and loses in the first round."
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