Emma Raducanu calls out an Australian Open fan as she makes him a generous offer

Kevin Palmer 18 Jan 2026 9:13 PM

Emma Raducanu at the Australian Open

Emma Raducanu has encouraged the fan who was giving her support in her first round match at the Australian Open to reach out – as she wants him to be in attendance for every match she plays in Melbourne.

The British No 1 was given good support by the Australian crowd as she beat Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1 to set up a second round match against Austria’s Anastasia Potapova.

One fan caught Raducanu’s eyes and ears during her match against Sawangkaew, as he was vocal in his support of the 23-year-old and gave her a new nickname to confirm his admiration for the 2021 US Open champion.

“Raddo apparently is my new nickname,” she said with a smile, as she referred to her new Melbourne superfan. “I’ve never heard that one before, so pretty original.

“It was great to have that support. I said he can come to any match, so I just need to try and locate him. I hope he comes back!”

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Raducanu has admitted her off-season preparations were sorely disrupted by injury issues, with her first competitive points played when she got to Melbourne to play in the United Cup earlier this month.

With that in mind, winning a match in a Grand Slam event was a good step forward after that challenging start to 2026.

“I’m really proud of myself because I came out here having not played any practice points,” Raducanu told the media. “My match with [Maria] Sakkari [at the United Cup] was pretty much the first practice that I played, which is pretty unheard of.

“I think having gone through that and having only had two weeks out here of playing, I’m happy with the level and happy with the speed at how I’ve kind of found my feet on the match court.

“It gives me confidence that if I keep doing the right things, actually I’m able to put chunks of work in, good blocks of practice, I can improve a lot more.

“Today, overall in all my shots, I felt like I had better control than I did in the last few weeks.”

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Looking ahead to her match with Potapova, she admitted it will be a big challenge.

“She’s been very high ranked. I remember watching Anastasia all through juniors, No.1 in Tennis Europe juniors, ITF,” added Raducanu.

“She was always the player to watch and beat through juniors. She’s been very high ranked as well in the pros.

“She got a really tough match today so that must give her a lot of confidence. I know it’s going to be a really tricky one. I need to just gather my strength and prepare as best as possible for the next match.

“I’m really excited to have two days off. Given the quick turnaround from Hobart, I think my body will appreciate it.”

Raducanu will be relieved to get through her first match in Melbourne, but she will need to raise her game to another level to get past the dangerous Potapova and potentially set up a third round clash against No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka.