Emma Raducanu Wimbledon warning fired with ‘unbelievable’ target set

Emma Raducanu announces shock split from coach after just five months

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Austrian former tennis star Barbara Schett has warned fans against expecting Emma Raducanu to replicate her US Open success at this year’s Wimbledon. However, she believes a run to the semi-finals would be ‘unbelievable’ after bursting onto the scene in last year’s Championships.

Last June, Raducanu made her Grand Slam main-draw debut and entered Wimbledon as a wildcard. The Bromley-based teenager won the hearts of spectators and fans worldwide as she became the youngest British woman to reach the last 16 in the Open Era.

She will return to SW19 this year as a full-time member of the WTA Tour and a Grand Slam champion, earning a stunning victory in the US Open just months after her Wimbledon run. And expectations are high as her form continues to pick up in the Madrid Open after a sticky patch.

However, Schett believes she can’t be expected to triumph on home turf and should instead set the ‘unbelievable’ target of a place in the final four. The former world number seven has tipped Raducanu to become a ‘winner’ in the long run if she can block out unrealistic expectations and further pressure.

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She told Eurosport: “The big challenge will definitely be Wimbledon for Emma Raducanu. I think if she could reach a semi-final, that would be unbelievable. I don’t think, you know, people should, especially the people in the UK, think, ‘okay, she’s going to win Wimbledon’. That’s a little bit too big of a task.

“But I think if she can just block out that whole stress or all the people around her who want something from her, if she can block out all the expectation from all the other people, then she’s going to be a winner. No matter how many rounds she’s going to win because it’s a long-term thing. It’s not a sprint in tennis; it’s a marathon.”

Ahead of the Madrid Open, Raducanu cut ties with coach Torben Beltz after just five months of working together. And given her recent success in the Spanish capital, Schett has suggested she might be best suited without a full-time coach in the build-up to Wimbledon and beyond.

“Maybe she is a player who doesn’t need a full-time coach,” Schett explained. “Maybe she needs a hitting partner who travels with her who she can hit with all the time. She is still figuring all of that out, but at the moment, it looks like she’s really on the right track.

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