Emma Raducanu has admitted she feared ‘bad blood’ with Andy Murray following her mixed doubles withdrawal at Wimbledon.
The Scot was denied a final match at the All England Club last summer when Raducanu pulled out before her first round match, citing wrist pain.
Murray was known to be very frustrated and the anger overshadowed Raducanu’s run to the fourth round of the singles, her best Grand Slam round since winning the US Open.
Radukanu dropped serve five times and hit five double faults, but still showed plenty of guts in her win against Amanda Anisimova
So the 22-year-old was particularly pleased to be congratulated by Murray afterwards second-round win at the Australian Open against Amanda Anisimova on Thursdaywhich set up a conflict with Iga Swiatek.
“Afterwards I sent him a long message basically apologizing if I caused any trouble, I guess at Wimbledon, that’s definitely the last thing I want,” Raducanu said.
“He’s someone I’ve grown to look up to and I don’t want any bad blood or hard feelings with him. I sent him a long message and he took it very well and he replied saying he was disappointed but understood.
“We’re good now. We walk past each other and say, ‘hi’, ‘well done’. It’s obviously really nice to see him with Novak (Djokovic) here too.”
Murray is now focused on coaching Novak Djokovic as the Serb looks to win a 25th Grand Slam title in Melbourne.
While Murray’s focus is now off the court as he helps Novak Djokovic try to win more Grand Slam titles, Raducanu is determined not to let any external negativity affect her.
She has had to get used to a lot of buzz swirling since her success in New York and told the press conference after her 6-3 7-5 win over Anisimova: “I think I’m getting pretty close to it this year. holistic in the sense of having only good people around me, having a positive outlook.
“Anything that doesn’t necessarily serve me, I’m very wild in terms of prioritizing myself and focusing. Anything that wants to try to influence it, I don’t have time for that. No hate. I just don’t want to kind of let it in.” .
This was another strong performance from Raducanu, who showed intelligence to soften the strong weapons of Anisimova, one of her closest friends on tour.
There were concerns, however, about the state of Raducanu’s back, with the British No 2 calling on the trainer early in the second set after experiencing discomfort.
Her preparations for the new season were disrupted by a back spasm which prompted her to withdraw from a tournament in Auckland earlier this month.
Raducanu hopes she hasn’t made the problem worse, saying: “I haven’t fully researched it yet.
“I think it’s almost to be expected when you haven’t played a game in so long, and then to have two really physical ones. I think there’s going to be little niggles here and there. I just hope it’s that.
“Today I was able to overcome some pain, but I will try to recover as best as possible the next day.”
It’s Raducanu’s first time making the third round in Melbourne and she poked her head after some key points to show her mental strength.
“If Katie Boulter saw this, she might say a few words,” Raducanu said with a smile. “I think she’s the OG of this. We have a good relationship, so I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me using it in clutch moments. But I was too harsh.”
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