Emma Raducanu says she found her confidence in tennis

Virgin Radio

27 Jul 2022, 14:08

School years weren't much fun for many people, and Emma Raducanu says the same until tennis came along.

In a recent interview, she revealed how "isolated" her school days were, and how she built up her confidence to become the superstar tennis player she is now.

Talking to Give Me Sport Women, she talked about her shyness as a young girl.

She said: “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."

The star continued: “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.”

She is now looking to defend her US Open title next month, and was still studying when she had her big break.

Raducanu is next set to play at the Citi Open.

She also revealed to Harpers Bazaar that she scored an A* for her maths A Level and shared what her dream job would be if she wasn't a tennis player.

It turns out she would want to work in finance, as "I like numbers!".

We doubt she'll need to, but if she ever fancies a career change that could work.