{"id":215694,"date":"2025-06-26T10:58:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T10:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/215694\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T10:58:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T10:58:10","slug":"sue-barker-69-makes-fluke-admission-about-emma-raducanu-ahead-of-wimbledon-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/215694\/","title":{"rendered":"Sue Barker, 69, makes ‘fluke’ admission about Emma Raducanu ahead of Wimbledon 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sue Barker has admitted she feels Emma Raducanu\u2019s 2021 US Open triumph was a \u201cfluke\u201d in a recent interview, whilst warning fans against putting too much pressure on the British No 1.<\/p>\n

Barker, 69, fronted the BBC\u2019s coverage of Wimbledon for over 20 years before leaving the broadcaster in 2022.<\/p>\n

While a successful presenter, Barker was also a very terrific player, recording a career-high ranking of third in the world, and winning the French Open at the age of just 20.<\/p>\n

Similarly Raducanu, who lost her second-round match in Eastbourne to Maya Joint yesterday in her preparations for Wimbledon, won her maiden Grand Slam at 18.<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/p>\n

Emma Raducanu lost to Maya Joint in the second-round at Eastbourne on Wednesday<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

Barker has warned fans \u201cexpect too much\u201d of the now-22-year-old, who burst onto the scene in 2021 by claiming the US Open title despite coming through the qualifiers.<\/p>\n

These rounds, according to Barker, are crucial in a player\u2019s confidence heading into major Grand Slams.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Independent, the former world no 3 said: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen at Queen’s, going through qualifying often sharpens you up so much to go into a grand slam.\u201d<\/p>\n

One example is Tatjana Maria, who won Queens this year as a qualifier.<\/p>\n

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\"Sue<\/p>\n

Sue Barker has warned fans “expect too much” of Emma Raducanu<\/p>\n

Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cEmma [Raducanu] winning the US Open, coming through qualifying gave her so much confidence,” Barker added. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow is the time we\u2019ll be hoping to see a bit of a breakthrough, but hopefully not too much. I think we learned from Emma that sometimes too much can be too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barker won 15 WTA Tour-level titles, including one Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

Being so young when claiming the 1976 French Open title, the now-69-year-old is used to high expectations being piled on at such an early age.<\/p>\n

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Because of this, she has warned fans against instilling such high expectations on Raducanu after her US Open win at the age of just 18.<\/p>\n

Barker said: \u201cI think everyone expects too much from Emma. It was a fairytale, a fluke, whatever you want to say \u2013 a qualifier coming through to win a grand slam, it should be a Hollywood movie. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yet everyone thinks that because she\u2019s done that, she\u2019s now going to be top 10. It doesn\u2019t work like that \u2013 she wasn\u2019t a top-10 player [when she won], she\u2019d hardly played the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barker paid homage to Raducanu\u2019s form in 2025 which has seen the 22-year-old reach the quarter-finals at Queens and round of 16 in Rome and Miami.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI\u2019m thrilled that this year she\u2019s playing really well, the serve\u2019s improved, the forehand\u2019s improved, Petch [Mark Petchey] is in the corner, I think that\u2019s a great signing. <\/p>\n

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\"Emma<\/p>\n

Emma Raducanu astonishingly won the US Open in 2021 at the age of just 18<\/p>\n

Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope she really builds a relationship with a coach, like Jack because to have that longevity and trust with someone is important.\u201d<\/p>\n

A persistent back injury has troubled Raducanu, though, this year. <\/p>\n

She has been seen receiving medical treatment during matches on multiple occasions over the last few months, and Barker has raised this as a cause for concern.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically, I worry about the injuries. It doesn\u2019t matter how well you play; if your body breaks down, you\u2019re gone. As Jack found out \u2013 Emma has got to do the same, build up her strength,” she stated. <\/p>\n

Raducanu now looks to her fourth Wimbledon campaign after her second-round Eastbourne exit to Joint this week.<\/p>\n

The British no 1 claimed she needs to \u2018get her head in the game\u2019 if she is to surpass her fourth-round best in the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sue Barker has admitted she feels Emma Raducanu\u2019s 2021 US Open triumph was a \u201cfluke\u201d in a recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[93,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-215694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-sport","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114749317325758587","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}