Former British tennis player Laura Robson thinks Emma Raducanu will be the breakout star at Wimbledon this year because everything is set up for the 21-year-old to be successful at The All-England Club.
After years of battling injuries, Robson announced her retirement from professional tennis two years ago at the age of 28. Since then, she has been employed as the tournament director of the Nottingham Challenger and a WTA 250 event in Nottingham. Robson got to watch Raducanu’s first grass tournament of the year up close because of her involvement.
Raducanu defeated Ena Shibahara and Daria Snigur in back-to-back sets to begin her Nottingham campaign, and Francesca Jones handed her a straight-set victory in the quarterfinal. Raducanu, who was competing in her first WTA semifinal since October 2022, narrowly lost to Katie Boulter.
Raducanu expressed a lot of optimism about her run even after losing, and Robson thinks it means Nottingham won’t be the 2021 US Open champion’s only victory of the summer.
Robson recently said about Raducanu: “I think Emma Raducanu will have the moment of the tournament. Watching her last few matches in Nottingham, she played well and was excited to be out there. She won the first match, then came up to me and was like, ‘Can I play tomorrow?’ as soon as she finished. She said, ‘Let me just be out there.’ It’s probably a while since I felt that sort of excitement from her.”
Emma Raducanu in 2024
Now the world no.165, Emma played her last match on the 16th of June when she capitulated to world no.31 Katie Boulter 6-7(13) 6-3 6-4 in the semifinal in Nottingham (draw).
At present, during this year the Brit owns a 11-8 win-loss record. Emma Raducanu’s latest run in Nottingham was the best achievement of her season.