What’s the one piece of advice you would like to give to your younger self? Think a little, take your time. In the meantime, let’s have a look at what the British tennis star Emma Raducanu has to say about this question.
Emma Raducanu recently spoke to Bazaar’s Digital Beauty director, Bridget March, during an interview. Raducanu revealed that she’d have loved to tell her younger self that it’s okay to say ‘no’ and prioritise what’s best for herself. What else did she say?
What’s that one piece of advice that Emma Raducanu has for her younger self?
The 21-year-old British tennis beauty has already become one of the world’s most famous tennis players. But with popularity comes an added pressure. A pressure to keep performing and stay fit all the time. But that doesn’t happen all the time in the world of sports and often players receive severe criticism due to their poor performances. Emma Raducanu has been facing the same since her heroics at the 2021 US Open.
Raducanu has never reached the third round of any major tournament after that. She has even failed to win any titles. But if we look back a little, Raducanu started playing tennis at the age of 5 and became the youngest-ever winner of an ITF U-18 tournament at the age of just 13. So expectations were always higher right from her initial days. She recently said, “I’d tell my younger self that it’s OK to say ‘no’ and prioritise what feels best for myself, especially in the hours ‘off’.”
In a rush of events, people often forget to think about themselves. She added, “Regardless of others’ perceptions, deep down we know when we are doing something truly for ourselves or rather because we feel we ought to.”
Talking about her childhood, she had once said how shy she was and didn’t talk much at all. The 21-year-old British tennis star had revealed how tennis helped her to build the fearless character that we see in herself often these days on the court.
Raducanu reveals her sad childhood experiences
Two years ago, Emma Rducanu made a bizarre confession to Grazia Magazine, saying, “I’ve never gone out. I’ve never done any normal teenage things. Between training and the travel, [the lifestyle] takes some getting used to. But I like to be on my own and it’s always about the bigger picture.”
However, she believes sports have brought enormous changes in her personality as well as her mentality. She said, “And through playing sport, and having to be bold on the court and fearless and fight, it’s given me inner strength. If you have that, then you can really achieve whatever you want.”
Her recent shocking exit from the Qatar Open at the hands of number 32 from Ukraine, Anhelina Kalinina has drawn in several criticisms. She lost to the Ukrainian by 6-0,7-6(6) in the first round of the tournament. Nothing is going right for the former world number 10 at the moment.
Amid all these, she recently posted a cryptic post quoting a few lines from the movie ‘Ratatouille’ on her Instagram story. That was perhaps a message to her critics. But anyway, now tell us what’s the one piece of advice you would love to give to your younger self?