Three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray acknowledged that Emma Raducanu is just 19 years old and urged the British media to try to protect her.
Murray, 35, made some comments early in his career that he thought would be funny but it turned the nation against him.
Before the 2006 World Cup, Murray was asked who he would support during the tournament.
Murray replied by saying that he would “support whoever England were playing against.”
To this day, Murray claims it was just a joke but many weren’t thrilled by that comment.
Now, Raducanu is the most promising and talented British tennis player and receives the most media attention.
Raducanu hasn’t had any incidents with the media so far and Murray is hoping it stays that way.
“I think there needs to be like a level of trust and respect between the players and the media. I also had problems earlier in my career where maybe certain things I said got taken out of context or joke that I might have made, you know, turned into big stories and big headlines where it turned things a bit sour and negative,” Murray told BBC Sports.
Murray: Raducanu is 19, let her be who she is
“Just let her be who she is, and you know, she might say some things that are a joke or maybe she doesn’t mean or whatever. There’s a few people in this room I’m sure when they were 18 or 19, made some mistakes and did some things they shouldn’t have done and said some things they definitely shouldn’t have said and athletes are the same. We will make mistakes and say the wrong things at time but just maybe don’t judge us too harshly when we do that and I’m sure that would help Emma a little bit,” Murray added.
Recently, Raducanu revealed she would absolutely love to play mixed doubles with Murray at Wimbledon.