Emma Raducanu defends off-court activities after US Open - 'I was not going to cancel one training session'

Updated 09/11/2021 at 15:43 GMT

British teenager and 2021 US Open winner Emma Raducanu has seen her profile rocket after her emergence at Wimbledon and her ensuing Grand Slam victory later in the season. She has been criticised for some of her off-court activities, but ahead of WTA Linz she has denied she will let anything get in the way of her sporting obligations.

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Emma Raducanu has said she was not going to miss even "one training session" to attend any sponsorship or off-court commitments.

Raducanu has attended the Met Gala, the premiere of the new James Bond Film and will feature in this winter’s Sports Direct 2021 Christmas advert.

Since winning the US Open out of nowhere, she has attracted plenty of attention and sponsorship opportunities, but has failed to win any further trophies.

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While it is early in her career, England rugby union coach Eddie Jones cited her as an example as what can happen if you are distracted from your professional life.

The teenager is now in Linz for the WTA event, and she has addressed some of the criticism that is coming her way.

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The 18-year-old is determined not to let her tennis suffer because of her off-court responsibilities and has defender her work over the last few months.

“I made it very, very clear to every single person in my team that I was not going to cancel one training session or practice session for any off-court commitments,” she said.

That was a non-negotiable for me. I wanted to make sure that that is my priority, and it is. So everyone is clear about that.

“But it’s just managing my time with the commitments around that. Even if it’s not off-court events or whatever, I’m still doing my WTA rookie hours for example.”