Emma Raducanu makes honest friendship revelation | Sports News

Emma Raducanu has opened up in regards to the challenges of forming friendships on the WTA Tour as she gears up to face Naomi Osaka for the primary time at this week’s Citi Open in Washington. The British tennis star superior to the second spherical, the place she is going to meet four-time Major winner Osaka.

The careers of Raducanu and Osaka have usually been in contrast, with each Grand Slam champions experiencing intervals of wrestle and opting out of most or all of the 2023 season. However, world No. 46 Raducanu feels her journey post-U.S. Open win concerned more “dips”, and he or she revealed a disheartening motive for her hesitance to befriend fellow gamers like Osaka.

Both girls clinched their first Major titles at Flushing Meadows. Osaka was a mere 20 years previous when she triumphed over tennis legend Serena Williams in a contentious 2018 closing that noticed Williams penalized by the umpire.

Fast ahead three years, and an 18-year-old Raducanu made historical past in her fourth skilled match, changing into the primary qualifier to secure a Grand Slam title. Despite every having confronted their share of adversity since then, the British No. 3 believes their introductions to the game have been markedly completely different.

“When I won my U.S. Open, I came from school, I was no one, I was 200 in the world, and Naomi had already won Indian Wells. She was already a known figure on the tour, and people kind of expected, okay, like, she’s going to start doing well and start winning Slams,” Raducanu shared.

“Whereas I think when I won, it was completely out of nowhere. It means that I didn’t quite build the foundations she had when she won her Grand Slams, which I think is why she was able to repeat and win another three, back-to-back U.S Open and Australia.

“I believe she was an established professional tour participant, whereas I did not essentially really feel that means. It’s in all probability why I had a lot more dips afterwards.”

Raducanu remains without a title since her stunning U.S. Open victory four years ago, with her strongest tour-level showings since being semifinal runs.

However, she finds common ground with Osaka, who stepped away from tennis in 2023 to become a mother for the first time. That identical year saw Raducanu cut her season short to undergo three operations.

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She added: “It’s good to see the similarities now. I believe we’ve got each form of began doing higher and began having fun with the method more and having fun with developing.

“I think it’s nice that after having such big highs and then some lows to both be working towards, you know, going up again.”

Despite their parallel journeys, Raducanu has by no means had a dialog with the previous world No. 1. The British star prefers to keep her distance from rivals, believing close relationships complicate matches.

“I think when we’re on the tour, it’s very difficult to really open up with other players that you’re competing against. I think for me, I have a few friends on the tour, but it does add another dimension when you play them,” she added. “I have really good friends at home that I can trust and speak to. For me, I just find it harder to compete against a person I’m friends with.”