Emma Raducanu should limit off-court obligations according to former prodigy

James Richardson
June 24, 2022

Former teen sensation Pam Shriver has shared her thoughts on the recent struggles of Emma Raducanu and her chances at Wimbledon.

Like Raducanu, Shriver shot to prominence as a teenager, although she admits that the tennis world, then in the infancy of professionalism, has undergone a radical transformation in the intervening decades.

Shriver says that while her run to the US Open final in 1978 raised her profile it wasn’t anything like what has happened to Raducanu.

Radacanu’s US Open triumph catapulted her into superstardom and Shriver feels that her team may need to adjust the load on her shoulders to suit who she is rather than simply making the most of her current high profile.

“It doesn’t really surprise me that she’s had her struggles.

“After my first US Open at only 16-years-old, I reached the final and lost to Chrissie Evert,” Shriver told Pickswise.

“That was back in the late 70s at the start of the big Tennis boom, it was in my home country.

“There was a lot of attention and I was still an amateur.

“I didn’t have any commercial obligations and that makes a big difference these days, completely different to what Raducanu is facing right now.

“It makes you wonder if somebody with experience of that situation, what she might face, might just say, ‘let’s not overload the off-court obligations and partnerships’. Obviously, you want to capitalise, I completely understand the business side of things.

“The US Open was my only Major final, you never know how many more you might reach. It’s about finding a balance between the off-court obligations and on-court practise.”

Wimbledon draw: Emma Raducanu gets tricky opener

Shriver believes that injuries and an unsettled coaching situation have made a deep run at Wimbledon unlikely for Raducanu.

However, Shriver would add that success for Raducanu at SW19 would be a shot in the arm for both the women’s game and tennis as a whole.

“The situation has been further compounded by a lot of different coaching transitions, which I’m not in favor of,” Shriver went on.

“I don’t know why it’s been so complicated to get a coach to help for this next phase of time, but it clearly has been.

“I don’t expect a lot from Raducanu at Wimbledon.

“She’s had a lot of injuries, not enough time on the court, and there’s plenty of pressure back at her home slam, the place where she didn’t return to the court to finish her match 12 months ago.

“Putting all of that together, I’d be surprised if she made a deep run.

It would be great if she did for Women’s Tennis- the game is always in a great place if there’s British interest at this tournament, we’ve seen it before with Henman Hill and Murray Mania.

“To have that buzz in the Women’s game would be great- we haven’t seen it since Virginia Wade and Sue Barker, apart from a couple of deep runs by Jo Konta in 2017 and 2019.”

Emma Raducanu