Emma Raducanu: Paula Badosa fears teenager is unprepared for toxic social media

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Emma Raducanu

Spain’s Paula Badosa fears that teenagers Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz are not prepared for the swathes of online abuse that come with being top players.

Raducanu and Alcaraz have both shot to prominence recently, showing tremendous skill and athleticism that belies their age.

Badosa fears that as teenagers they will be more susceptible to taking social media too seriously.

“When I think of young players like Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz, I want them to try and not pay too much attention to what they may see on there because it could hurt them a lot,” Badosa told Eurosport.

“No matter how well they perform on the tennis court, I worry that they are not yet prepared to carry all of the weight and pressures that inevitably come with social media,” the Spaniard fears.

“I have suffered from it myself and wouldn’t want others to experience it, but ultimately it’s part of tennis and it is the price to pay for success.

“I have a good relationship with Carlos and we talk constantly, so if I were to give any advice to him, it is that you need to have a good environment, surround yourself with the right people, work hard and listen to the outside as little as possible.

“You cannot control the outside, but what is in your control, just try to do your best.”

Badosa recognised the irony that social media can help drive conversations about mental health but can also be so harmful.

She said: “Social media has been great for driving those conversations [about mental health],but it can sometimes be dangerous too with the scrutiny it brings.”

Raducanu has already discovered that people feel entitled to offer their opinions about her regardless of their ignorance of her life and training methods.

One of the more bizarre cases of this saw England rugby coach using Raducanu as an example in a bizarre rant about distractions for young players.

Jones felt that Raducanu was soaking in a celebrity lifestyle rather than focusing on her game, and warned his young players to focus on their career.

The Australian coach said: “The big thing for good young players is distractions… there’s a reason why the young girl who won the US Open hasn’t done so well afterwards.”

Raducanu dismissed the comments telling Sky Sports: “I feel like people are gonna have opinions and expectations of me, but I don’t really think about that. To me, it doesn’t matter.”

Carlos Alcaraz Emma Raducanu Paula Badosa

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