Speaking in Eastbourne, her last tournament before Wimbledon, a smiley Raducanu said: “I just love the sport, love tennis.
“It’s kind of just taken over me and I think I’ve really rekindled a light and a fire inside of me and just very happy and enjoying it a lot. I would say right before Nottingham it happened and I’m just really grateful to have this feeling again because it’s something that I feel like I have been missing in a way for the last few years.”
After spending the first part of her young career feeling the pressure to perform, Raducanu is no longer placing emphasis on her results. She continued: “I haven’t felt this good about my tennis and just excited about it and passionate for a long, long time and I think now it’s really comforting for me because I’m way less focused on the result.
“I know with the way that I’m training and competing and fighting on the court, good things are 100 per cent going to happen and I just have full faith and belief in that now and I can actually say it and mean it at the same time rather than just saying it. I was trying to figure out, why? What’s my why? And now I just love what I’m doing so that’s the best place to be.”
It helps that Raducanu is playing on home soil for the first time since 2022. “I think that’s an element,” she added. “I think I have a big joy for playing in the UK, I missed it last year obviously and it’s nice. You kind of forget the feeling and also just the support staff at all the tournaments have been great. It’s a real team element.”
But that doesn’t mean Raducanu will be placing any extra emphasis on Wimbledon, her home Grand Slam. After losing in the second round in her last appearance two years ago, she said: “I’m just in a lot better place I’d say now.
“Confidence-wise, enjoyment-wise and mentally just really raring to go I’d say.
“I think for me Wimbledon, obviously, it’s a tournament all of us wants to do well in, and especially the Brits, but I think I just need to take the same approach because it’s just been working for me in the past few weeks because inevitably, even in the tournament’s in the UK that aren’t Wimbledon, you feel an element of pressure.
“But I think the way to spin it is all of these people have come here to watch me like they’ve come to support us. It’s just great and using that energy.”
Content Source: www.express.co.uk