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“I’m resilient, my tolerance is high, but it’s not easy. Sometimes I think to myself: I wish I had never won the US Open. I wish that hadn’t happened,” said the 20-year-old in an interview with the English “Sunday Times”.
Raducanu was the first qualifier to win the US Open title in 2021 at the age of 18.
It was also the first Grand Slam title by a British woman in 44 years. Since then, however, she has struggled with injuries and is currently recovering from surgery on both wrists and ankles.
“Was extremely naive”
“When I won the title, I was extremely naive,” said Raducanu, who has fallen from 10th to 130th in the world rankings in just one year. Over the past two years, she has realized that the tennis tour and everything related to it “is not a very nice, trusting and safe space. You have to be careful because there are a lot of sharks out there,” she said .
Many in the industry would have considered her a “piggy bank” because of her young age: “I’ve learned to keep my circle as small as possible. The tour is completely brutal.”
After the French Open, she will also miss Wimbledon in the summer, and last year her pain after the classic lawn had increased. Nevertheless, she continued to train so as not to be considered weak in front of her new coach at the time, Dmitry Tursunov. In addition to the physical pain, she also suffered mentally, building a facade to hide her problems.
Five coaches in two years
“I always want to show the best version of myself or strive for it, but I knew I couldn’t do it,” said Raducanu, who parted ways with Germany coach Sebastian Sachs this June, her fifth coach in less than two years .
Her US Open victory is also motivation. “Then I think to myself: remember this feeling, remember this promise, because it was completely pure,” said Raducanu, who on September 11, 2021, at the moment of her biggest success to date, thought: “I would really give any problem to the take on the world. That’s what I promised myself that day on the pitch.”
Source: Nachrichten
