Emma Raducanu ‘doesn’t have the respect’ of fellow tennis stars ahead of Australian Open | Tennis | Sport

Her woes continued at this week’s Sydney Tennis Classic event, where she was brushed aside 6-0 6-1 by world number 13 Elena Rybakina.

And now Mats Wilander, himself a winner of seven Grand Slam titles, has said the British player still has much to achieve before she’s considered a formidable talent by her peers.

Swedish great Wilander will know what Raducanu must feel like, having won the 1982 French Open aged just 17, beating the legendary Ivan Lendl in the process.

“I knew I had beaten the best players in the world along the way and my confidence level got really high. That was because I’d done something before I won the French Open as well,” he continued.

“For her [Raducanu], getting [to] the fourth round of Wimbledon was amazing, but I think she needs a few more matches under her belt so the locker room sees she can be good, even on her worse day.

“We were looking for stories on the women’s side of the game and then we had Naomi Osaka before Emma and Leylah Fernandez came along. The way they behaved on court stole everybody’s heart and it was too good to be true.

“Why did she win? (the US Open). Some of the players she faced along the way like Maria Sakkari, this was their chance and they couldn’t step up to the plate,” the Swede claimed.

“You can have a good two weeks on tour these days and it was much harder to do that years ago when power was not an issue.”