Daniela Hantuchova says players are 'losing respect' for Emma Raducanu after her run of defeats
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Updated 27/03/2022 at 12:40 GMT
Emma Raducanu must toughen up quickly if she wants to go deeper in tournaments according to ex-world No. 5 Daniela Hantuchova. Raducanu lost to Katerina Siniakova in the second round of the Miami Open after looking the better player, and Hantuchova believes the 19-year-old needs to stop the rot quickly if she wants to maintain the reputation her stunning 2021 US Open win gave her.
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Emma Raducanu is "losing the respect" of her peers with her continuing run of defeats, believes ex-world No. 5 Daniela Hantuchova.
In her latest early tournament loss of 2022, Raducanu succumbed to Katerina Siniakova in the second round of the Miami Open.
It was particularly galling for the Brit given she had the chance to serve for the win, and she admitted it had "sucked" to come out on the wrong side.
Amazon Prime pundit Hantuchova believes the fear factor Raducanu built up following her momentous US Open 2021 win will continue to dissipate unless she can develop her ability to edge tight matches.
Hantuchova, an Australian Open semi-finalist in 2008, said: “That was a tough one for Emma. I think it is going to hurt big time because of the chances she had. She was the better player for most of it.
“But the thing is now with Emma, everyone wants to beat her. Everyone is trying to figure out how to play against her.
“All the locker-room respect she had after the US Open is now kind of going away which is a shame.
“It is going to be important now for Emma to regroup, rethink what she has to change and get out there on the practice court.
There is no other way around it. Just keep putting the hard work in.
“At that age, you want to be fit, you want to show everyone that you are out there, no matter how long it takes. It was humid and it wasn’t easy out there.
“But this is where you have to be tough if you want to win matches like this, if you want to win tournaments like this. And I believe Emma has the level, she just has to find a way to get it out of her.”
Raducanu has been on the end of criticism from all sides this week as she also received questions about her increasing sponsorship commitments, which most recently saw her announce a tie-up with Porsche.
The 19-year-old is fast learning what life is like in the spotlight, and she faces another potentially difficult few months as the clay-court season approaches.
Raducanu has never even played a tour match on the surface, but she has already shown her ability to adapt quickly and could spring a surprise or two.
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