Emma Raducanu made a strong return last week, reaching just the second final of her WTA career before falling to Sorana Cirstea in straight sets.
Raducanu won four matches at the Cluj Napoca, which also marked her first appearance since splitting with coach Francisco Roig.
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Now, she is set to rise inside the top 150 for the first time since May 2023 following her run in Nottingham.
Despite what many consider a great run in Romania, Raducanu has been surprisingly criticized by Boris Becker on X.
However, not everyone agreed with Becker’s comments.
Tennis world hits back at Boris Becker’s criticism of Emma Raducanu
Photo by Flaviu Buboi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
On The Tennis Podcast, Catherine Whitaker was one of the first to challenge Becker’s view, saying: “It was just the perfect example of how Emma Raducanu brings out the petty and pathetic in so many people.
“Like, why are you out here having a mean-spirited opinion about Emma Raducanu and putting it out into the universe? Like, I don’t know what it is about her that brings that out in people, but it is a fact that she does, whether it’s Boris Becker or Man in Pub or Taxi Driver or, you know, whoever it is.”
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Matt Roberts echoed that sentiment and added: “It’s been like that, unfortunately, for a very long time, and, yeah, I just hate that, just punching down, and I think it is a classic example where she can’t really win in the eyes of many people, right? Like, if he doesn’t reach the final or they’re saying ‘Oh, well, if she hasn’t reached the final.’ And if she does, it’s ‘Oh, it’s only it’s this level of tournament, and these category of players’, and, you know, it is rough to see that, actually.
“And I think there are sort of valid potential questions you could have over Emma Raducanu’s career over the past few years. I think you can question her decision-making with coaches. It’s obviously worked for her at the start of her career, and she’s won the Grand Slam title that everyone is craving, and people seem to forget that.
“People seem to treat that as some kind of fluke or anomaly, or it doesn’t really count, that she has done the thing that everyone is trying to do.
“But I think you can have legitimate questions about the way she has sort of hired and fired coaches since then, because, you know, that strategy has sort of stopped being quite so beneficial for her.
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“But other than that, I don’t really get the huge level of criticism that Emma Raducanu gets, and it does feel hugely outsized and not in proportion with the career that she’s trying to develop for herself, having had a start that was so extraordinary, that no one has ever had to tread that path before. And, you know, she’s doing her best.”
Emma Raducanu has become an unfair target
This is just the latest example of how Raducanu seems to draw criticism, often without any real justification. Even her Grand Slam win, which so many players spend their entire careers chasing, has been used against her.
She did that as an unknown teenager, and holding her to that standard ever since simply has not been fair.
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Raducanu’s career has not followed a traditional path, but she has consistently put in the work and dealt with more pressure than most 22-year-olds could handle.
While there are legitimate questions about her coaching decisions and injury history, Becker’s comments felt misplaced during a week where Raducanu had just reached her first final since that breakthrough in New York.
The signs are positive again. She is edging closer to the top 20 rankings, finally putting together the kind of run that suggests another title shot might not be far away.
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