At her U.S. Open press conference on Friday, the 2021 champion Emma Raducanu was asked about the absence of compatriot Andy Murray, who retired from tennis earlier this month and heralded the beginning of his career by winning the boys’ singles tournament in New York just over 20 years ago.
A boilerplate glowing response about Murray’s career and record? Absolutely not.
“No, it doesn’t feel different at all. Tennis is unforgiving in that sense.
“No matter who you are, it just moves on. There is always another match, there is always another tournament.
“Of course, Andy has achieved amazing things and I watched him win this tournament but it is a fast pace, just like life is. It’s old news the next day.”
Her words blew up, and unsurprisingly so in the aftermath of Raducanu withdrawing from the Wimbledon mixed doubles event she was down to play with Murray last month. In so doing, she deprived the two-time SW19 singles champion of one last hurrah at his favourite tournament.
GO DEEPER
Emma Raducanu’s Andy Murray decision exemplifies tennis’ battle with logic and emotion
Now, as then, look beyond the perceived slight and there is more to the story. On one level, Raducanu is simply correct. At Wimbledon last month, the world No 1 Iga Swiatek — a five-time Grand Slam champion at 23 — was talked about so dismissively after her surprise exit to Yulia Putintseva that it felt like a trick of the mind that she had won a fourth Roland Garros title, her third in succession just a few weeks earlier.
If Coco Gauff, whose recent form is ropey, suffers an early U.S. Open defeat next week, will the fact that she won the title last year and two months ago reached a career-high ranking of No 2 aged just 20 insulate her from criticism?
Good luck with that.
Raducanu’s U.S. Open title was perhaps the most surprising in history (Elsa/Getty Images)
Add in the implicit expectation that players should be respectful and reverential to their forebears, and Raducanu’s apparent indifference to Murray’s achievements jarred in a sport where the standard practice is to big up those who went before. But this is less her indifference, than the indifference of the sport — something that Murray, who won four Grand Slams, two Olympic golds, and 14 Masters 1000 titles as well as reaching world No 1, knew all too well. That return is by any account a glittering career. He just achieved it in the age of three players who made winning 20 Grand Slam titles a realistic expectation.
Fellow Brit Liam Broady agreed with Raducanu’s sentiments, and the lack of reverence that the nature of tennis allows for its competitors.
“Don’t know why so many people are salty over Raducanu’s interview,” he wrote on X.
“Her point is that the sport moves so fast, and she’s right about that. Nobody has time to stop and ponder things, it’s just one tournament after another, a million miles an hour.”
Like Raducanu, Murray won his debut full-major title in New York, beating Novak Djokovic in 2012 (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
More significant is the underlying poignancy in Raducanu’s words, which comes from her own experience as a tennis player upon whom the sport foisted its attention, before quickly taking it away.
Three years, ago, she won the title on Arthur Ashe as a qualifier, becoming the first to ever win a Grand Slam title. At that moment, Raducanu was the single biggest story in the sport. Now she’s the world No 71, giving Friday’s press conference away from the main interview room.
In between, Raducanu has had a few significant moments, and wildcards have helped her play at some of the biggest events, but a cruel run of injuries and some patchy form have meant that, for much of that time, she has been what she says tennis turns players into. “Old news.”
Raducanu’s focus right now is on Tuesday’s second-round match against Sofia Kenin. She too is a former Grand Slam champion, winning the 2020 Australian Open; she too would now be considered “old news”. As will this story be before too long, because for active players, the only way to stay relevant is to keep on winning.
Murray knew that while he was on tour, and Raducanu certainly knows it now.
(Top photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
