Emma Raducanu received a heartwarming comment from one lady and the 2021 US Open champion made sure to make it clear that she appreciated it very much.
On Tuesday evening, the 21-year-old made an Instagram post – the first photo was a selfie, while the second photo featured some art with a quote “Like I vanished and reappeared.”
After not having a great summer on hard courts and seeing her US Open run end in the first round, the British tennis star had big plans for the Asian swing. But after it got off to a promising start and she made the Seoul quarterfinal, she picked up an unfortunate foot injury and has been sidelined since.
That led to some again questioning Raducanu’s fitness and strength. In the months before this unfortunate physical setback, the former world No. 10 was highly criticized for her scheduling decisions. However, all of this isn’t anything new.
“Can you all leave this highly talented, intelligent girl alone unless you are going to write something nice. She has achieved so much & is a young woman who can be proud of her achievements. I never normally comment but honestly have to support this girl,” Caroline Roberts (carlylabar Instagram handle) wrote in the comment section of Raducanu’s post.
The 21-year-old liked the comment and dropped a teary-eyed and heart emoji, which was a clear indication of how she felt about the kind message.
Emma Raducanu Instagram post and comment© Emma Raducanu – Instagram
Raducanu hit back at her critics a couple of times during this past summer
Before the 2021 US Open, those following tennis were aware that the Briton was regarded as a very promising and talented player. But no one was prepared to see her win 10 matches at Flushing Meadows and make history by becoming the first-ever qualifier to win a Grand Slam.
After that, she basically became one of the most popular players overnight. But it didn’t take long before she also got familiar with the dark side of popularity.
“I think it (criticism that athletes and managers get when they are not performing well) just comes down to success. I think when they’re not talking about you, that’s when you need to start to worry,” Raducanu said at Wimbledon.
At first, the 21-year-old had a hard time dealing with criticism and scrutiny. However, she is now much more comfortable in handling those things and insists that she only does what she wants.
“I’m going to do things on my own time. I’m in no rush to do anything and everything I am doing and playing for now is for myself. Whether that’s tournament scheduling, whether that’s how much time I take off to train compared to compete, I think I’m just way more focused on my own lane and less susceptible to outside opinions or views. I’m just enjoying it, just doing everything for myself and really just being independent out here. It’s pretty natural becoming a different person overnight almost with the circumstances, not necessarily myself, at such a young age,” Raducanu explained in June.
Emma Raducanu© YouTube screenshot
Raducanu suggested that listening to outside noises led to bad decisions
Throughout the 2022 and 2023 seasons, she dealt with various injuries. And that led to some arguing that those constant physical setbacks were happening because she had a weak body and simply needed to play much so her body could build up tolerance. And a couple of months ago, Raducanu indicated that in the past she was forcing herself to play some events – which actually led to physical setbacks.
“It’s easier to get caught up in it and at one point I was chasing playing too many tournaments and then I was just picking up niggle after niggle in every tournament because I never really gave myself any time to do the training. That is something I’ve done a lot better this year. Even though I might get challenged or questioned for not playing certain tournaments, like the French Open or the Olympics, that is just part of it, doing things at my own speed and how I want to, rather than how everyone else thinks is best for me,” she said during the grass.
Meanwhile, after retiring injured her Seoul quarterfinal match against Daria Kasatkina, Raducanu revealed it was a ligament injury.
“Hello, last week in Seoul I sprained some ligaments in my foot which unfortunately need some more time to heal (sad emoji). It means I can’t play in Beijing but I hope to be back competing as soon as I can,” she announced on September 23rd.
For the end of the month, the Briton is signed up for the Hong Kong Open. It remains to be seen if she will recover in time and be ready for the tournament that starts on October 28th.