There are very few tennis names that have made as many headlines recently as Emma Raducanu and she had to find a special way of dealing with the pressure.
Emma Raducanu captured the attention of both her nation and the world with her fascinating US Open triumph. Despite being the first UK woman to win a Grand Slam in a very long time, Raducanu also became the first qualifier to ever win a Grand Slam making her a phenom overnight.
It opened the floodgates for the young Brit who wasn't ready for it. At times the struggle became so much that she wished she never won the US Open. When you add injury problems to the mix, you have a very volatile situation where her name was dragged all over the front pages of the biggest publications in the world. She gave a candid interview to one of them when she opened up to The Sunday Times recently.
The pain [in the wrists] escalated last summer after Wimbledon. I started with a new coach and I was really motivated to get going. We were overtraining, a lot of repetition, and I carried on even through pain because I didn’t want to be perceived as weak.
Before the wrist injuries, there were smaller injuries that left her retiring a few times. Almost instantly her competitive nature and motivation were questioned with descriptors such as 'fragile' being thrown around mercilessly.
I was struggling with the physical pain but the mental side of it was really difficult for me too. I always want to put forward the best version of myself, or strive for that, but I knew I couldn’t.
It was a testing time for the Brit who is still very young. Speaking carefully Raducanu admitted that much of her self-worth as an athlete still is directly correlated with her achievements. It's probably something you never shake but it doesn't help relieve the cluster of emotions.
I very much attach my self-worth to my achievements. If I lost a match I would be really down, I would have a day of mourning, literally staring at the wall. I feel things so passionately and intensely.
I was under so much pressure to perform, people had no idea what was going on and I had to have this façade, to keep everything inside. It has been really hard. And then to be scrutinised for it when they don’t know what is going on.
The emotions were too much at times. Pressure, pain, regret, despair and many others. To keep herself going, Raducanu put up a facade, something most of us can certainly relate to. Hopefully, things are going to turn for the better in the future but mistakes will be made along the way. It's the nature of life.
I am very young and still learning and making mistakes. It is a lot harder when you are making mistakes in front of everyone and everyone has something to say about it. The tour is completely brutal.
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