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Emma Raducanu says she has smoothed things over with Andy Murray after their unfortunate row at Wimbledon last summer.
After her second-round win over Amanda Anisimova at the Australian Open, Raducanu revealed that she sent Murray “a long message essentially apologizing if I had caused any trouble at Wimbledon.” That’s definitely the last thing, what I want.”
To briefly outline the story, Raducanu originally agreed to play mixed doubles with Murray, which would have been his final appearance at Wimbledon. But on the morning of the game she withdrew, saying she woke up with a stiff wrist. Murray’s mother, Judy, called the decision “amazing” in a post on social media.
The two former US Open champions have rarely crossed paths since then. Raducanu thinks they may have said hello once at the National Tennis Center in southwest London, but that was about the limit.
Then on Thursday they met in the players’ areas at Melbourne Park, shortly after Raducanu’s courageous 6-3, 7-5 victory over world number 35 Amanda Anisimova.
“I saw Andy today and he said ‘well done’ and congratulated me,” Raducanu explained. “That was really nice. He is someone I look up to a lot. That’s why it’s good that he pats him on the back.”
Asked if she wanted to resolve lingering issues with Murray, Raducanu replied: “Great. Whether or not I can go back and turn back time and do things differently is in the past. I can only evaluate it and learn for the future.
“And I wanted to take the initiative because when I was growing up he was one of my idols and he still is, with everything he’s achieved in the game, being from the UK and having the same system and everything.
“I don’t want to have any bad blood or hard feelings with him. I sent him a long message and he took it very well and replied that he was disappointed but understood. We’re fine now. We pass each other and say “Hello”, “Well done”. Of course it’s really cool to see him with Novak [Djokovic] here too. Two great champions and them just being together is pretty awesome.”
Raducanu laughed and concluded by joking, “I just hope he doesn’t hate me too much.”
Raducanu was understandably in an optimistic mood on Thursday. She had just battled through a difficult second-round encounter with Anisimova, who hits one of the biggest balls on the women’s tour.
After extensive defensive action on the field, she needed a medical time off to focus on her hips and lower back. But her tenacity and skill came to the fore and efficiently defused her opponent’s power play. In the end, Anisimova became Amiss-inova, making 44 unforced errors in the match. (For context: Raducanu only scored 17.)
During her post-match press conference, Raducanu said that physical discomfort is only natural after not competing for almost two months. “Having two really physical ones [matches]I think small points of criticism will arise here and there. Yes, I was able to overcome some pain today.”
Raducanu put her hands on her head in disbelief after converting her first match point with a typically deft shot: a low, sliding, sweeping slice that Anisimova couldn’t handle. Her fetch game was outstanding throughout and she said she felt stronger on the track because of the work she did with her new full-time fitness coach, Yutaka Nakamura.
At the end of a nearly two-hour victory, Raducanu gave an enthusiastic on-court interview in which she described the Australian Open as “the Slam I love to play.” It’s always good to flatter the locals.
Since her historic victory at the 2021 US Open, Raducanu has not performed particularly well at overseas Slams. This is the first time in more than three years that she has reached the last 32 of a major outside Wimbledon. During this time their record is 50:50: seven wins from 14 games.
However, their tournament doesn’t get any easier from here. Her next opponent on Saturday will be world number 2 and five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek.
“I’ll probably just take it easy tomorrow [and] have a slight pull,” Raducanu said when asked if she had any concerns about this back pain. “Nothing crazy. I played a lot of tennis today and two days ago, so I don’t think I need to overdo it on the practice court. I feel it a little, but I still have some time.”
