EMMA RADUCANU has admitted that she finds it difficult to trust, having been “burnt” since her remarkable US Open triumph.
The British tennis star, 22, is in Rome and will take on Australia’s Maya Joint in the first round of the Italian Open later today.
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Raducanu is again working with Mark Petchey in Italy, having reunited with the Andy Murray’s former coach following a stint together in 2020.
The world No49 is also joined in Rome by Jane O’Donoghue, the 42-year-old who has often been in Raducanu’s corner during her career.
Ahead of her Italian Open first round, Raducanu reflected on her sense of independence.
The 2021 US Open champion said: “I’m someone who keeps things to myself and it takes a lot for me to open up.
“I haven’t really opened up to many people in my life, truly, but the ones that I really trust, I do.
“And the thing is with me, once I let someone in, I let them in fully and I care for them so much, and I have been burnt a few times.
“A few people who I’ve really trusted have surprised me, but I guess that’s life, and I still have some great people around me who I really trust, and I’m working on it.
“I mean, part of me doesn’t like talking too much about any problems, because it makes it into a bigger problem.
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“So I think now I’m learning to just accept the day as it comes and just choose discipline over how I feel.”
Prior to reuniting with Petchey, Raducanu briefly worked with Vlado Platenik earlier this year.
The pair split ahead of Miami following just one match together.
Platenik was the seventh coach that Raducanu has employed since winning the US Open.
In February, she was targeted by a stalker in Dubai.
Having already been approached in a restaurant the previous day, a visibly distressed Raducanu hid behind the umpire’s chair as the man was removed from the stands.
‘I WAS SO SHELTERED’
Expanding on her struggles to open up, the British No2 said: “The last few years, it’s been very difficult for me to trust new people, especially those who have not necessarily known me from the years before the US Open.
“I just find myself gravitating towards those people now who I’ve known, and I’d say my circle is smaller than ever. And I was so sheltered.
“Up to 18, I was just with my parents, they helped me with everything, like nothing could touch me.
“All of a sudden, after that, everyone came and I got burnt quite a lot of times, whether that’s professionally or personally. Now I’m just like very Fort Knox with who I let in.”
Raducanu also admitted that she wants to continue her studies.
During her Covid-enforced break from tennis in 2020, Raducanu earned two A-Levels – achieving an A* in Maths and an A in economics.
She said: “Whether I will take my third A-level and go into a degree, I’m not sure. But I feel like I need some sort of pressure and adrenaline in that sense of my life.
“I think it’ll be a good escape because, growing up, I always had tennis as an escape from studying and studying as an escape from tennis.
“So it wasn’t just my entire life and my entire personality being dependent on this one thing.”
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