Emma Raducanu has opened up about how she felt isolated at school and how tennis helped her build confidence.
The former US Open champion gave an interview to Give Me Sport Women where she opened up about her childhood.
Baring in mind that Raducanu was still doing her studies when she broke through at Wimbledon last year, which was then followed up by a remarkable victory as a qualifier at the US Open.
However it now turns out tennis gave Raducanu confidence as he school years felt very ‘isolated’, “I used to be really shy as a young girl and playing tennis and beating the boys and coming back when I was losing, that just brought me a lot of confidence,” Raducanu told Give Me Sport Women.
“Yeah, I can say that I’m definitely more comfortable and outgoing now than I was when I was younger, and I think tennis has brought me that. All the kind of friendship groups are formed in year seven, eight, nine, and they’re constantly changing in the early few years.
“So if you’re not there and you’re not going to some things or hanging out at lunch, or break, then, you know, you kind of get isolated and forgotten about.
“I sort of made peace with that later on, I just went to school to study. But I’d say that not having as many friends from school is probably one of the biggest sacrifices I had to make.”
Very interesting insight from Raducanu who seems to have benefited from the confidence that tennis has managed to give her.
The 19 year-old’s rise to success has been quite something since her isolated childhood and now the Brit prepares for her next challenge as she looks to defend her US Open title next month.
Raducanu has had an inconsistent season with the Brit only winning back-to-back matches at two events this year.
The Brit will look to put that right next week when she plays the Citi Open in Washington D.C.
