After Emma Raducanu’s U.S. Open exit, she said the sport’s best are out to get her.
Yes, on the surface it sounds delusional.
But it might not be altogether wrong.
Elena Rybakina drilled Raducanu 6-1, 6-2 in the third round Friday, with the 62-minute beating the fastest-ever Grand Slam loss for the young Brit.
After routs at the hands of Iga Swiatek in Australia and the French Open and a loss to Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon, Raducanu hasn’t gotten past the third round at a major this year.
More to the point, in 12 matches against the best four players in the world — the aforementioned trio and Coco Gauff — she’s 0-12.
And Raducanu — No. 36 in the world — insists the sport’s big four are raising their game against her.
“Yeah, big-time. I think when the very top play against me, they have a point to prove that they’re at the top, and they’re there for a reason. I think every time I’ve played one, they’ve kind of shown that,” Raducanu said. “So at the same time while I’m improving, doing better, gaining maybe some more respect around, I think yeah, the top have definitely raised their game. But I’ll take that as a compliment that they’ve decided to really lock in against me.”
It could be as much about her pocketbook as her play.
With her model looks and megawatt smile, Raducanu has landed a host of endorsements that outstrip her on-court accomplishments.
When Sportico did a list of the top 15 highest-paid female athletes in December — across all sports — she ranked seventh.
For perspective, Sabalenka ranked fifth with $17.7 million, though $9.7 million were in winnings and $8 million in endorsements.
American Jessica Pegula was 13th with $4.2 million in winnings and $4 million in endorsements.
Rybakina, who beat Raducanu on Friday, had $3.9 million in winnings and $4 million in endorsements.
Raducanu had only earned $671,000 in winnings but garnered a staggering $14 million in endorsements.
It’s worth noting that Raducanu never specified why she perceives the big four have raised their game against her.
While shoulder woes ended Ben Shelton’s 2025 U.S. Open, Carlos Alcaraz had much better injury luck.
The Spaniard needed a medical timeout at 5-4 in the second set of his win over Luciano Darderi to receive treatment on the right knee.
But the 2022 champ tamped down any fears over the injury and called it a precaution.
“That game that he broke my serve, on the last point after the serve, the first step, I just felt something in the knee that, it was [bothering] me,” Alcaraz said. “But after five, six points, it was gone.
“I was worried after that [moment]. That’s why I asked for the physio. But it was nothing serious, so just for precaution. After that, I just didn’t feel it anymore, and it was good. So it’s just nothing serious.”
Randy Moffitt, younger brother of Billie Jean King and a reliever who pitched 12 seasons in the majors from 1972-83, died Thursday in Long Beach, Calif.
He was 76.
“Like Billie Jean, Randy personified the power of self-belief and the value of competition, forging a successful major league baseball career as a pitcher with the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays,” the USTA wrote in a statement posted to X on Friday. “This is a sad day for our tennis family, and our sincere condolences go out to Randy’s entire family, including his two daughters — Miranda Harrah and her husband, Rusty, and Alysha Gosse and her husband, James — his four grandchildren, and our dear friend and colleague Billie Jean and her wife, Ilana Kloss.”
