Emma Raducanu has revealed she sometimes wishes she hadn’t won the US Open due to the ‘setbacks’ that later came with it.
The Brit became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam with victory over Leylah Fernandez in 2021, but since then injury troubles have dogged her career.
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The 20-year-old recently declared herself out of the French Open and Wimbledon due to surgery on both wrists and her ankle, and is hoping to come back stronger than ever.
Since that win, though, repeated coaching changes have drawn criticism, as have on-court performances that saw her lose her British no.1 status.
Upon lifting glory in New York, Raducanu says she felt she would take anything that came her way after such a moment, but that thought has since changed.
Speaking to The Times, she said: “That moment on the court, when I was celebrating, I was like, I would literally trade any struggle in the world for this moment.
“Anything can come my way, I will take it for what I have right now because this is the best thing in the world. I promised myself that, on the court that day.
“Since then I’ve had a lot of setbacks, one after the other. I am resilient, my tolerance is high, but it’s not easy.
“Sometimes I think to myself I wish I’d never won the US Open, I wish that didn’t happen. Then I am like, remember that feeling, remember that promise, because it was completely pure.”
Raducanu also opened up on her off-court struggles, with numerous companies trying to use her star status for profit, which hasn’t always benefited her.
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“I had to mature very quickly. When I won I was extremely naive,” she said.
“What I have realised in the past two years, the tour and everything that comes with it, it’s not a very nice, trusting and safe space. You have to be on guard because there are a lot of sharks out there.
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“I think people in the industry, especially with me because I was 19, now 20, they see me as a piggy bank.
“It has been difficult to navigate. I have been burnt a few times. I have learnt, keep your circle as small as possible.
“I was struggling with the physical pain but the mental side of it was really difficult for me too.
“I always want to put forward the best version of myself, or strive for that, but I knew I couldn’t.
“I very much attach my self-worth to my achievements. If I lost a match I would be really down, I would have a day of mourning, literally staring at the wall. I feel things so passionately and intensely.
“When you are on the tour, giving interviews, you don’t want to give that information out, what you are going through, how little you are practising. You don’t want to show your cards to your competitors.
“I was under so much pressure to perform, people had no idea what was going on and I had to have this facade, to keep everything inside. It has been really hard. And then to be scrutinised for it when they don’t know what is going on.
“I am very young and still learning and making mistakes. It is a lot harder when you are making mistakes in front of everyone and everyone has something to say about it. The tour is completely brutal.”
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