Emma Raducanu sent two clear messages after taking flak from all angles

Emma Raducanu has been given the all-clear after backlash from choices made for the Paris Olympics and Wimbledon. The 21-year-old GB tennis star was set to compete with Andy Murray in the Wimbledon mixed doubles tournament but decided to pull out due to injury fears. In what looked to be Murray’s last-ever Wimbledon stint, the three-time Grand Slam winner was initially posed to play solo in the men’s singles, and alongside brother, Jamie, in the men’s mixed doubles. He pulled out of his first singles match with Tomas Machac, and ultimately the tournament, as he was still recovering from a back operation.

And after losing 7-6 and 6-4 to John Peers and Rinky Hijikata in the first game of the paired men’s tournament, the mixed doubles alongside Raducanu looked at his last shot at redemption in his farewell to the SW19 major. But Raducanu omitted herself from the mixed game with Murray – a decision which would lead some fans to lay on harsh criticism, accusing her of spoiling Murray’s last run out. Defending herself at the time, Raducanu said: “I didn’t want to take his last match away from him. But at the end of the day I think a lot of the players in a similar situation would have done the same thing, prioritising their body. I still stand by making the right call.

“He was obviously disappointed because it’s his last match [at Wimbledon]. But what a champion. I think that hopefully he’ll play in the Olympics and have another farewell there. I think with every decision, people are entitled to their opinions.” Murray has since admitted that he’s “not bitter” about the youngster’s choice to ditch him in the tournament, explaining: “Everyone is going to look out for their best interests and what it is that they do. “I understand that, and I don’t have an issue with that. Getting to finish playing at Wimbledon on Centre Court with my brother was unbelievably special. That obviously wasn’t how I’d planned it. That’s how it ended up, and I’m really happy about that. I’m not frustrated or bitter about it. I’m happy that I got to finish playing at Wimbledon with my brother.”

Elsewhere, Raducanu would find more criticism for declining the opportunity to represent Team GB at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Not alone in her choice to ditch the clay courts – with Ons Jabeur and Aryna Sabalenka among the stars who have also turned the competition down – Raducanu cited that she’s prioritising her body and health instead of playing every tournament possible. She explained: “It’s pretty natural becoming a different person overnight almost with the circumstances, not necessarily myself, at such a young age. So not in a diva way, I’m just prioritising my body and my health because I know if I’m fit, I know if I’m giving my 100 per cent, I know great things are happening and coming.

“It’s easier to get caught up in it and at one point I was chasing playing too many tournaments and then I was just picking up niggle after niggle in every tournament because I never really gave myself any time to do the training. That is something I’ve done a lot better this year. Even though I might get challenged or questioned for not playing certain tournaments, like the French Open or the Olympics, that is just part of it, doing things at my own speed and how I want to, rather than how everyone else thinks is best for me.”

And it’s a move that ex-World No. 1 Annabel Croft was quick to question, admitting: “I have to be honest, I was very surprised to hear that she wouldn’t want to go there.” She added: “I just hope she doesn’t regret it. I’m sure she will have many other opportunities in the future, but you never know. “Her body has broken down a few times already, she has had wrist surgeries and ankle surgery and it has prevented her from getting any momentum in her game.” However, former Polish Olympian, Agnieszka Radwanska, has defended tennis players who have chosen to opt out of the Olympics this summer. She said: “You can never tell how the girls are feeling and they will have their reasons for not playing at the Olympics. The tennis schedule is so tight. You have tournaments pretty much every other week and you prepare for that.”

She went on: “You have to think ahead about what is going to happen. You also have to listen to your body about what is right for you. That’s why it’s hard to comment on a player withdrawing from an event because it as to be about how they feel. They know better than us. They are doing what is right for them. It is always an individual thing.” Raducanu failed to achieve glory at Wimbledon 2024, crashing out of the tournament in the round of 16 after being beaten 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 by Lulu Sun. She will hope to obtain her second Grand Slam title at the US Open in August, previously winning the 2021 tournament at Flushing Meadows by beating Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the final.