Emma Raducanu Aims to Maximize Her Experience on Tour Ahead of Wimbledon

Emma Raducanu will face teenager Mingge Xu from the United Kingdom in the first round of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships.

Emma Raducanu Aims to Maximize Her Experience on Tour Ahead of Wimbledon

Emma Raducanu (Image via X)

Emma Raducanu is still just 22 but it feels like she has been playing professional tennis for over a decade due to her early breakthrough on tour. The former World No.10 has also endured a topsy-turvy career. Ahead of the Wimbledon Championship, she revealed that she wants the make the most of her time on the WTA Tour.

Raducanu was catapulted into the spotlight after reaching the round of 16 at her home Grand Slam tournament, the Wimbledon Championships, back in 2021. Subsequently, she would embrace superstardom that summer, as she claimed her sole Grand Slam title at the US Open, despite entering the event as a qualifier.

However, after that, Raducanu experienced a rough patch in her career. She had to deal with several injuries, coaching changes, and personal matters along the way. Also, she got more endorsements and sponsorships, which kept her in the spotlight, attracting media attention but also pressure.

She’s now a mature player having overcome several issues in her early career. This season, she has made some impressive runs but is yet to win a title or even reach a final. Her best run in 2025 came at the Miami Open, where she reached the quarter-finals of the tournament before losing to Jessica Pegula.

The British No.1 is set to compete at the Wimbledon Championships, which begins on June 30. She revealed to The Guardian that she’s now focused on making the most of her time on the court, while also referencing former star Ana Ivanovic:

I want to just really embody just having a good time and joy and I think I’ve really recently realized that what we do, it’s for such a short amount of time, and it will go before we know it. I was actually listening to Ana Ivanovic say the same thing. She said she wished she had enjoyed it more. Sometimes I want to go into the future and think: ‘Oh my God, am I going to regret not enjoying this moment?’

Raducanu also enjoyed her best run at the Italian Open, reaching the fourth round of the WTA 1000 tournament. However, she has failed to smoothly transition from clay to grass as she has just won three matches on the grass-court in two tournaments. She will be hoping to get back to full form at the 2025 Wimbledon.

Emma Raducanu on her vulnerable side after bursting into tears at Eastbourne

Emma Raducanu heads to the Wimbledon Championship after a second-round exit at the Eastbourne International. The British star lost to the eventual champion Maya Joint in three sets. However, after her first round win against Ann Li, she was overwhelmed by her emotions and was seen in tears after receiving some pretty bad news.

Emma Raducanu (via X/Raducanu News)
Emma Raducanu (via X/Raducanu News)

She revealed during the aforementioned interview that she’s in a better place overall and more confident to showcase her vulnerable side more often on tour:

It just felt like I couldn’t speak out really, because I didn’t want what I said to kind of be shared and spoken about and gossiped about, because you know how the Chinese whispers go…It’s just exaggerated and things are twisted. So I just prefer to keep everything in and that is not necessarily the best thing because when you’re on the court, you’re kind of playing, holding a lot in rather than being expressive, and that’s when I’m at my best.

Raducanu will face 17-year-old Mingge Xu in the first round of the Wimbledon Championship. The Welsh teenager was awarded a wildcard for the tournament. The pair have trained together at the National Tennis Centre in London and know each other pretty well.

Also Read: Jack Draper Reveals How He’s Dealing with the Pressure of Following in Andy Murray’s Footsteps at Wimbledon