Emma Raducanu defends decision to team up with Andy Murray for mixed doubles

Emma Raducanu dismissed burnout fears from her own camp after accepting Andy Murray’s invitation to play mixed doubles.

The 21-year-old says “playing with Andy will just massively inspire me and just give me a lot of life and energy and adrenaline” to take into her singles’ challenge.

Raducanu is through to the third round at a grand slam for the first time since her dazzling US Open triumph, having brushed aside world No 33 Elise Mertens on Wednesday.

She said her text from Murray inviting her to be part of his Wimbledon farewell had “100 per cent” given her added energy at Wimbledon. But having already hit scintillating form, she admitted there were raised eyebrows from her own team at accepting another challenge.

“For me it was a no-brainer,” said Raducanu of Murray’s invitation. “In my team, they were asking me, ‘Emma, are you sure you want to play? Just in case … You’re still in the tournament.’ I was like ‘no-brainer’. Yeah, I think that gave me so much energy, and just knowing that I’d be able to have that opportunity and experience, it made me so happy and I slept very peacefully and woke up very happy as well.”

‘For me it’s a win-win’

There are precious few examples of players experiencing success in both singles and mixed doubles in Wimbledon history. The peerless Martina Navratilova was the last to win both simultaneously, climbing the mountain in 1985, having paired with Paul McNamee. She took the singles title again the following year but lost in the final of the mixed doubles with Heinz Günthardt.

The only other women in history to pull off that particular double was Ann Jones in 1969 (doubles with Fred Stolle) and Billie Jean King in 1973 (doubles with Owen Davidson).

Several have tried and failed since. If we dial down our expectations to deep runs in both events, we could point to singles quarter-finalist Mary Pierce winning the mixed doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2005, or Yaroslava Shvedova in 2016 reaching the quarter-finals in singles and a semi-final in the mixed in 2016. This particular double has proved too tall an order even for Serena Williams, who won the mixed in 1998, four years before she won her first Wimbledon.

Raducanu, however, says she is embracing the challenge. “Well I think certain things take energy from you, certain things give you energy,” she said. “I think playing with Andy will just massively inspire me and just give me a lot of life and energy and adrenaline, and I love that. I’m physically in a really good spot and also if I’m in the second week of Wimbledon, I’ll be jumping for joy, so it’s for me a win-win.”

Raducanu’s coach ‘like a big sister’

Raducanu has tried to dampen down expectations ahead of her rematch with Maria Sakkari but excitement is growing about what the Briton can achieve at Wimbledon this year.

A recent upturn in fortunes coincides with her calling upon her old confidante Jane O’Donoghue since the Nottingham Open, because her main coach Nick Cavaday had been unwell.

O’Donoghue was the LTA’s national coach for women between 2009 and 2019, so was also part of Raducanu’s support network during those early days. Now, though, O’Donoghue works for a subsection of the Credit Agricole/Santander banking empire.

“She is crushing it in the finance world,” explained Raducanu, but she added “to me she is like a big sister, she always kind of took me under her wing...she was my national coach when I was younger, and we always stayed in touch but she’s been in that industry for five years now.”

“Tennis is a hobby for her,” Raducanu added. “She’s a member of the club. It gives her the adrenaline that she misses in the office and it gives me that really nice familiar feeling. I think she has also taken a few days off leave and I think being at Wimbledon as well is a really nice way to spend your days off.”