WTA pro slams Emma Raducanu’s critics for calling her ‘one-Slam wonder’ as they ‘don’t understand tennis’
Emma Raducanu hasn't yet won a title on the WTA Tour since her fairytale run at the 2021 US Open.
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Emma Raducanu (Image via X)
WTA pro Naomi Broady, who now works as a commentator for Sky Sports, claimed that those who criticize Emma Raducanu for not winning a Major since her fairytale run at the 2021 US Open, don’t understand tennis. Broady said it’s difficult to come through qualifying rounds and win a Grand Slam title the way Raducanu did.
Since etching her name in record books in 2021, the Brit hasn’t yet won a title on the WTA Tour. Slump in form, mid-match retirement due to injuries, and surgeries hampered her campaigns.
She missed almost the entire 2023 due to multiple surgeries, but in spite of starting the 2024 season from outside the top 300, she came back to the top 60 thanks to her run on the grass-court events. In Grand Slam tournaments, apart from the 2021 US Open, she never progressed beyond the fourth round, as a consequence of which, multiple critics labeled her as a one-Slam wonder.
You can’t come through qualifying, win seven matches without dropping a set, and win a Grand Slam by luck. People who have that attitude and say Emma got lucky when she won the US Open don’t understand tennis. You hear them say she is a one-Slam wonder and it was a fluke that she won the US Open. If you understand tennis, you will know that is not possible.
Naomi Broady told Tennis365
Broady, who is a former World No.56 and hasn’t officially retired from tennis, added that it’s incredibly difficult not to get dragged into the negativity after reading negative comments on Raducanu online. This is why she believes the 22-year-old needs ‘protection’ and decided to make her ‘close circle much smaller’.
Emma Raducanu to play in Abu Dhabi Open
Emma Raducanu is in Abu Dhabi for the WTA 500 event and is scheduled to lock horns with Marketa Vondrousova. It will be Raducanu’s third tournament of the season, following the Australian Open and the Singapore Tennis Open.
She was scheduled to play the ASB Classic to kick start her campaign for the 2025 season, but a foot niggle forced her to withdraw from it. At the Melbourne Slam, Raducanu reached the third round for the first time but in the match, she was no match for World No.2 Iga Swiatek.
In Singapore then, Raducanu failed to overcome Cristina Bucsa in the first round. She has met her Abu Dhabi Open’s first-round opponent Vondrousova twice and they are 1-1 in the head-to-head contest.
They first met in the second round of the 2021 Wimbledon, which Raducanu had won in straight sets. In their last encounter, the player from the Czech Republic breezed past Raducanu in straight sets in the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers.
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Gouri Das
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