The day I dined with a tennis Grand Slam champion
Knocked out of the Singapore Tennis Open at the first hurdle, Emma Raducanu must rediscover her form and confidence to enjoy that winning feeling again
IT ISN’T every day that one gets to have dinner at a fancy hotel with a tennis Grand Slam champion – and one of the sport’s most recognisable faces, no less.
It was a rainy evening on Sunday (Jan 26), and well over a hundred people were in a ballroom on the 35th floor of the Hilton hotel in the heart of Orchard Road, with a splendid view of the city’s busy shopping street below.
There I was, patiently waiting my turn at the salad bar of the buffet line, when I noticed Emma Raducanu – the 2021 US Open winner – right beside me, surveying the many options in front of her as she eagerly filled her plate. We ended up at the same table with several other guests to enjoy the pasta, roast beef, baked barramundi and dessert.
We exchanged some brief pleasantries before tucking into our meals, as I welcomed her to not-so-sunny Singapore and wished her well for her opening match at this week’s Singapore Tennis Open (she ended up losing in the first round on Monday, but more on that later).
Barely 10 minutes later at this welcome party for the players, the noise levels in the ballroom cranked up several notches, with plenty of lively chatter and a percussion performance.
Raducanu appeared to have seen and heard enough at that point. She gathered her food and a glass of Coke Zero, and quietly exited the venue, probably in search of somewhere quieter to finish her dinner and have an early night. She did, after all, have to play on Centre Court at the Kallang Tennis Hub the next afternoon.
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Unexpected breakthrough
There is little that tennis fans don’t already know about Raducanu, a 22-year-old who burst onto the scene at the US Open in New York in 2021. As an unseeded player, she stormed past all before her to win one of the sport’s most prized trophies, an unbelievable feat that catapulted her into global superstardom almost overnight.
She had turned professional barely three years before that unexpected breakthrough, which made her Britain’s first female Grand Slam champion in 44 long years – the last being Virginia Wade in 1977.
Born in Toronto to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother, Raducanu grew up in Bromley, a town in London. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and Romanian, and has charmed many of her followers in Asia and elsewhere by speaking in Mandarin.
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She first played tennis when she was five. She rose to her highest singles ranking of 10th in the world in July 2022, and is currently 56th.
Raducanu has struggled with numerous injuries in the last couple of years, even requiring surgery on both wrists and an ankle. She did bounce back strongly to end her 2024 season on a high, winning all three of her matches at the Billie Jean King Cup in Spain.
Singapore stay cut short
Raducanu was not the highest-ranked player at the inaugural Singapore Tennis Open that began on Monday, but she was still among the favourites to go deep in the US$275,000 WTA 250 event and build some momentum for the rest of the year.
She arrived in the Lion City fresh from competing at the Australian Open, where she reached the third round before falling to Iga Swiatek in straight sets.
Drawn to face Spain’s 101st-ranked Cristina Bucsa, the bronze medallist in women’s doubles at last year’s Paris Olympics, Raducanu won a tight first set that lasted an hour.
In the end, the Briton committed far too many unforced errors and double faults for her liking, losing the second and third sets. That brought this bruising 183-minute marathon to an end, with Raducanu exiting at the first hurdle, to the disappointment of many in the crowd.
This was Raducanu’s first match since parting ways with coach Nick Cavaday, who left the team last week due to health issues.
After the match, she admitted that she did not know what was next on her playing calendar, as she plans to regroup and continue her search for a new coach.
A couple of wins in Singapore would have done wonders for Raducanu’s quest to move back into the top 50, but those hopes have been dashed.
It’s back to the drawing board, then, for this talented player who has found it tough to deal with some unfair criticism and unrealistic expectations since winning the US Open.
Her bright start at the Australian Open that yielded two impressive wins will give her some degree of optimism, but she needs a big reboot in order to get anywhere close to winning another tournament, much less a second Grand Slam.
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