Laura Robson thinks Emma Raducanu finally managed to put away the major pressure and expectations that weighed heavily on her and that she is once again "enjoying" tennis.
When Raducanu won the US Open as a qualifier in 2021 and became the first player in tennis history to pull off such an astonishing feat, she was just 18 and had only started competing on the Tour three months earlier. What happened in the aftermath of her US Open triumph is well-documented as the Briton started to struggle with her form and results - something that was directly impacted by the major pressure she was feeling at the time.
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In one of her interviews, Raducanu admitted to even regretting winning the US Open. Also, she confessed in one of her past interviews that she was basically thrown into a world that was unknown to her.
However, this year, Raducanu looked much more positive and happier on the court - clinched a couple of top-10 wins - reached the Washington semifinal - and finished the year ranked inside the top-30. in August, the 23-year-old made a splash addition to her team after adding Francisco Roig, and her goal is to elevate her game to the point where she can legitimately challenge the top players.
Robson: It feels Raducanu is a bit more relaxed now
"I can't imagine how much pressure it felt like for a while there with everyone expecting you to have the same kind of results. It's very, very difficult to back it up when you're healthy, let alone somebody who's coming back from injury woes. It's something that we saw at the US Open. It feels like she's a bit more relaxed. She played a bit of golf in New York and just enjoying her time on the court, which is by far the most important thing. You forget how young she is," Robson told Sky Sorts.
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In a few interviews from this year, Raducanu credited being surrounded by "the right people" as one of the key things to changing her situation.
