Emma Raducanu recently won the Champions Tennis exhibition event at the Roy Albert Hall on Sunday. After winning the event she revealed how British Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton has been a big influence on her. The British youngster defeated Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-3, 7-6 and highlighted her career goals, she also revealed that she wants to bulk up a bit to compete at the top level.
After the win Raducanu was quizzed whether he considers her name to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. The reigning US Open winner’s answer was negative as he started lauding Lewis Hamilton for the award.
The youngster added how Hamilton has given her valuable inputs since her US Open win this year. “No, definitely not, I’m rooting for Lewis… he’s been such a good role model for me in terms of helping me through these next stages,” Emma Raducanu said. “He’s a really cool person.”
Raducanu is planning to spend training sessions in the Middle East for Christmas as she prepares to take part in the Australian Open next year. During her on-court speech after the win, she also pointed out that her main goal is to improve while reflecting on her development.
“My expectations for myself are just to keep improving. I want to look back at the end of the year and see that I made gains in any sort of area,” Raducanu said.
She revealed how she understands that she needs to be more patient, consistent to achieve goals. She also revealed her plans to gain some muscle for the upcoming season.
“I know that for me, it’s going to take a lot of patience to get to where I want to be, and smooth out that consistency,” Raducanu said. “So I think that’s probably the biggest goal – it’s just building my robustness physically.”
The upcoming season will be her first calendar year on WTA Tour. So it will be a challenge for the youngster starting with the Australian Open next summer. She is looking to learn more in the upcoming season as she feels that the full tour experience will only help her get better.
