Emma Raducanu is ready for a normal Wimbledon with less “less stress or chaos” – but wants to play her part in an extraordinary fortnight in British sport following England‘s extraordinary Euro 2024 win over Slovakia.
The Bromley-based star, now 21, first made headlines when she reached the fourth round here just weeks after her A levels.
Then as the reigning US Open champion, she won her race to shake off a side strain before playing her first two matches on Centre Court.
Now, after missing last year after surgeries, she is back for only her seventh match at the All England Club against Russian No.22 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Raducanu has insisted she is in a “good place” as she is physically fit, working with her childhood coach and without the frenzied expectation immediately after her shock Grand Slam success.
“I feel a lot more comfortable this year,” she said. “There’s a lot less going on. There’s a lot less stress or chaos. I’m more just coming here, doing my practice, playing the match. Like there’s not there’s not much else to it whereas in 2022 I was in a big rush.
“Would I be able to play? Would I not? And then last year, obviously missing it, and in 2021, I lost in a Brit Tour like a month before so I was not really feeling amazing. So I think that this is the most settled I’ve been in a while.”
Raducanu is one of 19 British players in the singles draw at SW19 at the start of a two-week stretch which will also see the climax of Euro 2024 – with England into the quarter-finals after their dramatic 2-1 win over Slovakia on Sunday night – and the British Grand Prix.
She added: “I would love to be a part of it. I think it’s just an amazing summer of sport. It’s football, it’s F1, it’s tennis, the races. There are so many things going on.
“I’ve been saying that every day on site right now at Wimbledon is a blessing. Playing just to keep being able to come back here and keep being able to compete. Just enjoy the buzz that’s going around.”
After skipping qualifying for the French Open, Raducanu reached the semi-finals in Nottingham and beat world No.5 Jessica Pegula in Eastbourne with a backhand slice and grasscourt tactics from the Andy Murray playbook.
“I actually haven’t been studying him but to be compared a few points to Andy is a pretty good compliment so I’ll take that,” she laughed.
“I think that he plays unbelievably well on this surface because he uses variety that makes it really hard for the opponent, especially when it stays so low on these courts. Is there anyone I model my game on?
“I would say I want to play like Carlos Alcaraz but I can’t!”
But Raducanu hopes to be studying at Oxbridge in years to come after visiting Oxford with her pal Fran Jones last month.
“I love it,” said the grammar school girl. “I love the area. It’s just my escape from London. It’s really picturesque. You feel like you go back in time and you can feel the history and culture there.
“But I was always a very keen student and so Oxbridge was always up there on my bucket list in life. And I think I carry that on whether that’s during my career, after my career, I know that that is something that I want to do in the future.”
