Emma Raducanu’s scheduling decisions have come under scrutiny.
“I am a fan of hers and I think sometimes she gets treated unfairly and also she doesn’t do herself any favours with scheduling and decisions,” he said. “I can’t figure out where I’m at with it. It’s like she won’t play qualies at all for whatever reason.
“[She] pulled out of the French [Open] once she had to play qualies and it’s not a good look when someone who has the pedigree of Naomi Osaka decides to play qualies in Cincinnati and she’s not too proud to do it.”
It comes after Kim Clijsters took aim at Raducanu’s inner circle while also suggesting that media scrutiny has played a role in her patchy form since winning the US Open in 2021.
“There’s two things that I think could be the reason,” said Clijsters. “It’s either maybe not having the right people around you who kind of guide you and say: ‘Okay, this is important to you like the scheduling, building enough weeks off in between, like training blocks to improve, to mentally switch off’.
“Or is it her? Is there other things going on mentally where she’s kind of just had it with media, pressure, whatever it is. It’s only those two things that could be the cause.
“I don’t know enough about her. I don’t know her personally, I don’t know her team, I really don’t know much about that whole situation. I’m sorry, but if you have a team of coaches around you or whoever is in charge, there’s obviously some misguidance there.”
