Laura Robson feels Emma Raducanu deserves to be given more credit as she insists the 19-year-old has already changed tennis in Great Britain. Robson, who announced her retirement from tennis this year, says British kids are inspired by Raducanu and her run to the 2021 US Open title has inspired many youngsters from her country to pick up a racket and try tennis.
“I did this interview with Wimbledon for a local primary school and asked the kids who was their favourite player and almost all of them said Emma,” Robson told Tennis365. “It’s so cool. Just to have that inspirational figure to look up to.
They all watched the US Open last year and they were looking forward to seeing her at Wimbledon and it is cool that in five years time, they will have watched Emma grow and they will be teenagers themselves by then. There is no doubt that Emma has had a massive impact on young people.
They see what she achieved at the US Open and they want to try and tennis. That is great for our sport”.
Robson feels Raducanu will be just okay
Raducanu has been struggling with her game since winning the US Open and some are going as far as calling the 19-year-old a one-Slam wonder.
However, Robson is not giving up on Raducanu as she believes the 19-year-old just needs more time and experience. “She is so exciting to watch,” Robson added of Raducanu. “She is right there with them and just needs a good run of training and competition to get her body used to playing week in, week out.
It seems strange to talk about Emma and saying she needs to win matches as she is only in the first year of her career. She has already been at the highest of highs and I have no doubt she will get back to that level once she has a run of matches.”
After a second round defeat at Wimbledon, Raducanu is expected to return to action in two weeks at the Citi Open in Washington.