Emma Raducanu ‘will win more Slams’, says her agent as he hits out at ‘malicious’ criticism

Emma Raducanu’s agent has slammed those who have directed “malicious” criticism at the 2021 US Open champion, saying she needs to be given time to figure things out as he also backed her to win more Grand Slams.

After bursting onto the scene with an astonishing title run at the US Open when she became the first qualifier to win a major, Raducanu has struggled to put together an extended run of wins.

She has failed to make it past the third round of a major since her Flushing Meadows fairytale. Her 2023 record was 5-5 as her season was cut short by injury as she underwent surgery on both her wrists as well as her one ankle.

The 22-year-old has also made a sluggish return this year as she is 3–4 and her poor run of form has seen her cop a lot of criticism, many of it unfairly, according to her agent.

Speaking on Andy Roddick’s ‘Served’ podcast, her agent Max Eisenbud said: “The girl did everything backward. She skipped every step!

“She won the US Open, she went to the next tournament, she didn’t even know where the player lounge was, she didn’t know where the practice courts were.

“I don’t think just being tough on her or critical on her like any other player [is wrong]. But she is still figuring it out. I just think that people should not be malicious.”

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Raducanu played only a handful of top-level matches in 2023 before she won the US Open and the pressure that came with her title run was unprecedented.

Suddenly every decision was under the microscope and one of those moves was her constant changing of coaches as she has gone through five coaches since winning her only title to date.

Andrew Richardson was her mentor during her US Open run, but she has also had stints with Nigel Sears, Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs.

Eisenbud though is confident she will eventually win more Grand Slams.

“As the agent, do I necessarily agree with it? I don’t. But it seems to work for her,” he added.

“And as the agent we can only try to recommend and say, ‘Hey, this one did it this way.’ But they [the family] seem to be very comfortable in the way they are doing it and I have to respect that.

“Maybe that changes and maybe it doesn’t. But she really is a hard worker. And tennis is her priority. Yes, people want to see that she does other things. But the way I see her work and how smart she is, I believe she’ll win more Slams.”