Life as a grand slam champion continues to bring a whirlwind of mixed fortunes for Emma Raducanu. In the past week alone, the US Open champion has featured alongside the likes of Jack Grealish and Jessica Ennis-Hill in a £6m Christmas advert, been invited to become a full member of the All England Club, and finally secured the experienced coach she sought to oversee the next phase of her development in the shape of Torben Beltz, the German who guided Angelique Kerber to victory at the Australian and US Opens. At the same time, Raducanu remains a marked woman, with everyone from the England rugby head coach Eddie Jones to China’s Xinyu Wang, a qualifier at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz who bundled the British teenager out in the opening round, ready to take a pop at her.
It is a lot to absorb, and while Raducanu continues to take it all in her measured stride, she acknowledged after her 6-1, 6-7 (0-7), 7-5 defeat that her body is “still trying to get up to speed” with the physical demands of the tour. Having fought back courageously against the impressive Wang, Raducanu was hampered by a hip spasm in the closing stages of the decider as her stellar breakthrough season came to a premature conclusion at an event where, for the first time in her fledgling career, she was the top seed.
“I thought it was a really high-level match,” said Raducanu, who sustained the injury in the ninth game of the final set. “I thought Xinyu played extremely well, especially in that first set and I’m proud of the way I fought to try to get back into the match. Everything was going her way and she was playing extremely well, so a lot of credit to her for keeping that level out there on the court. In the third I had a hip spasm in the first point of that game and from there I was just fighting to try to stay in it.”
Fight she did, defiantly firing three forehand winners to earn a temporary reprieve, but Wang was not to be denied, breaking again to ensure a deserved victory. It was comfortably the biggest win of the 20-year-old Wang’s career, and in many respects the manner of it brought to mind Raducanu’s triumphal progress in New York. Wang, who smoked 13 winners and made just three unforced errors in a near-flawless opening set, maintained a high position on the baseline, striking the ball sweetly off both wings, and showed admirable composure and tactical nous, patiently absorbing Raducanu’s pace and targeting her opponent’s weaker forehand side. Yet Raducanu will rightly draw encouragement from the way she was able to turn the tide after a first-set battering, and Beltz will no doubt have noted with approval the manner in which his prospective charge was able to work her way back into the contest despite struggling to find top gear. It promises to be a fruitful partnership.
“It’s obviously a great privilege to be working with such an experienced coach,” said Raducanu, who has been without a coach since parting ways with Andrew Richardson following her win US Open victory. “I’m definitely very excited to work with him throughout the pre-season and into next year. I’m feeling excited about all the work that is to come. I think he brings a lot of experience. Obviously he’s worked with Kerber, who’s such a great player and has done extremely well, won three slams. I think that experience definitely helps with someone as inexperienced as me.
“He can help guide me through, which I feel really confident about, and also he’s a really positive, cheerful guy who brings great energy to the team, so I think that’s also important when you’re travelling on the road for quite a long time.”
Beltz should prove an equally useful ally in dealing with the kind of comments directed at her by Jones, who suggested Raducanu’s progress has been stalled by off-court distractions. Raducanu shrugged off the furore, claiming she was unaware of the England head coach’s critical remarks about her promotional activities and commercial deal with French fashion house Christian Dior.
“I’m not really sure who or what that means. I haven’t followed any of the news. I stay away from that, so I don’t really know what this is about,” said Raducanu. “I think many people are going to have opinions of me and what I’m doing, but I just know I’m staying focused with a small circle around me and I definitely have my parents, who would 100% let me know if I was getting swayed.”
Meanwhile, Andy Murray booked a second-round appointment with Jannik Sinner after defeating Norway’s Viktor Durasovic 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) at the Stockholm Open. “He loves playing indoors on hard courts, so it will be a big test for me,” said Murray of his showdown with Sinner, the world No 10.
Murray was watched by Esteban Carril, the highly-regarded Spanish coach who is set to join his team following a trial with Raducanu last month. “It’s another person with a fresh set of eyes and with a good reputation and good experience. That’s why I wanted to try it out and see how it goes,” said the former world No 1.