28 April 2023 , 20:44
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Emma Raducanu appears to be feeling the pressure right now as persistent injuries have plunged her Wimbledon into doubt, but she has received some sympathy from Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.
The 29-year-old enjoyed a meteoric rise to Tennis superstardom, much like Raducanu, and has since admitted there are parallels between herself and the British talent. Bouchard is a Wimbledon runner-up and a former world number five, but regular injuries, particularly with her shoulder, curtailed an important stage of development.
Nowadays, Bouchard is ranked number 285 and has discussed Raducanu's recent issues by comparing them to similar experiences of her own. The Canadian touched on the theory that the former US Open champion is making the same mistake she did by concentrating too much on commercial opportunities.
"Oh, yeah, I see lots of similarities," Bouchard said. "I feel for her in the sense there's nothing to feel bad about with her. She has a great life and she's set for life, and she's had great achievements.
"But I can understand a little bit of the pressure, the scrutiny. She posts not doing tennis one day and then people are like, 'Why don't you go practice?' and I'm like, 'Oh, my God, I went through that six, eight years ago.'
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"It's so funny, people will still be haters, you know what I mean? And I think she will do just fine. I think she may be just, kind of like me.
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Emma Racucanu has received some words of support from Eugenie Bouchard (PA)"I did well, kind of right away and then I had to do the steps I missed and she probably just has to go through that a bit. I think she'll be totally fine but it's a tough world out there. So when you have success you just got to be ready for people to kind of claw you a little bit."
Bouchard's comments come just days after Raducanu raised eyebrows with a notably tense press conference during which she uttered just 58 words from 16 questions from the media.
She cut a contrasting figure from the last time she conducted media duties at the Madrid Open where Raducanu was all too happy to answer any and every question fired her way.