Emma Raducanu compared to Rafael Nadal during first match back on British soil

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Emma Raducanu has been compared to tennis icon Rafael Nadal on her return to British soil. The US Open champion played her first match in her home country since her incredible triumph at Flushing Meadows.   

Claire Curran said: “I completely believe her when she says that. It’s the way in which Emma has been brought up.  

“I’ve never seen anything different from her. When she trains at the National Sports Centre, and I’ve seen her last year as well, you watch her train and she has this mentality that every single ball counts.  

“The focus to have that in a training session… we talk about how Rafael Nadal has that, [and] she has it to some degree in the same way.  

“She doesn’t have the same physicality as Rafael Nadal but she is so focused onto every ball.  

“You notice it when you walk past her, you recognise that this is a player who is going somewhere.  

“Johanna Konta is very much the same. And Emma will have had that presence of seeing players like that on the courts.  

“She knows what she has to bring to reach this level.” 

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