Chris Evert says she is “very happy” to see Emma Raducanu doing well as she felt the Briton had a target on her back and played scared after winning the US Open. After becoming the first qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam at the 2021 US Open, Raducanu struggled in the rest of 2021 and 2022 wasn’t that great either.
But at this past Indian Wells edition, Raducanu showed flashes of the game that landed her the 2021 US Open trophy. In Indian Wells, Raducanu beat 2023 Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette and world No 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia, before losing to world No 1 Iga Swiatek.
Evert: Raducanu played scared after the 2021 US Open, happy she’s doing better
“I am very happy to see Emma doing well. She had a tough go after she won the US Open and I don’t think she really knew what hit her after a while.
Everybody was really gunning for her and she played scared a little bit. I liked how aggressive and bold she was at Indian Wells. She was hitting out on the ball and not afraid to go for her shot. She was really going for her shots and matching the power of some very powerful players.
I think there’s been enough time since the US Open where she can take a deep breath now and say, ’okay, that was then, this is now, and this is what I need to do and not be…
