Chris Evert slams Emma Raducanu’s doubters after her strong showing at the Madrid Open

Chris Evert slams Emma Raducanu’s doubters after her strong showing at the Madrid Open

Chris Evert, Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu has had a rollicking start to her Madrid Open campaign with straight set wins over Tereza Martincova followed by another dominating win over Ukrainian youngster Marta Kostyuk to progress to the round of 16 at the Spanish capital. The 19-year-old brought her best game forward against Kostyuk as she defeated her 6-2, 6-1 to cruise through to the next round.

Raducanu had a fantastic service performance as she won 88% of her first serve points and got 77% of her first serves in, which speaks volumes about her confidence. She is massively inexperienced on clay but her performances have shown that it does not really matter for the US Open champion. She was also impressive with her second serves as she won 62% of her second serves and faced no break points.

Her strong showing in the second round of the Madrid Open caught Christine Evert’s attention as she called out her doubters on Twitter. Evert quote tweeted a statistic from Raducanu’s game as she wrote, “And the doubters think Emma is more focused on endorsements and appearances? I don’t think so.”

Evert in the past has also lent her support to the British teenager as she understands what a youngster goes through after suddenly rising up to the limelight. So this time she proved that her trust in the 19-year-old was not in vain as Raducanu seemingly has absorbed all the criticism and is now playing sublime tennis at the Madrid Open.

Chris Evert has always backed Emma Raducanu even when she was not in the form

Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu in Madrid

A month ago, Chris Evert backed Emma Raducanu and felt that tennis remains the priority for Britain’s No.1 as endorsements were pouring in and she hardly had any results to show for it. But Evert trusted in her abilities and believed that she will prove her doubters wrong. “Even though she’s gotten a lot of endorsements and she’s raking in the money, I genuinely feel that tennis is still the number one priority in her mind,” admitted Evert. “I do believe she’s working hard at her game.

Emma Raducanu will face another Ukrainian, Anhelina Kalinina. The 25-year-old has defeated Garbine Muguruza in the second round. She even bageled the two time Grand Slam winner and will be a tough test for Raducanu in her quest to reach her third quarterfinal after winning the US Open last year.

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