Former seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe says Emma Raducanu is certainly a great player as he feels the 19-year-old just needs to embrace the pressure and figure out how to be successful with all the expectations placed around her.
On Wednesday, top-ranked British female player Raducanu crashed out of Wimbledon as Caroline Garcia handed her a 6-3 6-3 loss.
Raducanu, 19, hasn’t had any victories since the US Open and she has struggled with her game and results since.
Discussing Raducanu’s talent, McEnroe underlined that no one wins a Grand Slam by a coincidence.
“Nerves play a part here, but she’s 19 years old. I mean, she should be you know, be able to deal with that very quickly,” McEnroe said, per Tennis365. “I suspect and I hope that some big things will happen in the future, but you got to start believing, you know, back up the hype. She needs to get in her comfort zone with whoever the people are around her. I don’t know who they are because she keeps switching teams as new coaches come in and out of the situation. That’s not a good thing. But she’s got to figure it out and let’s not forget, she won the US Open. Some slouch doesn’t win the US Open. She’s a great player. You got to look at it like that.”
McEnroe: We cannot say Raducanu doesn’t have experience on grass
In her Wimbledon debut, Raducanu reached the Wimbledon last-16.
A year later, Raducanu’s campaign at The All England Club ended with a second round defeat.
“I’m not buying this idea that she doesn’t have experience (on grass),” McEnroe added. “She got to the fourth round at Wimbledon last year. She knows that Wimbledon is first strike tennis I don’t mean to burst her bubble here, but I we have to give her some time. She’s had injuries okay, I get it. You got to obviously you want to be healthy, but hopefully she’ll realise that a lot is expected and I’m sure she expects a lot from herself. She could do some big things. How did she have blisters? I don’t know understand that part. She won the US Open, I’m gonna say it again – she won the US Open. But of course there’s a lot of expectations coming from that.”