Inside Emma Raducanu’s humble off-season as Brit hits out at boyfriend rumours | Tennis | Sport
The Maldives is a tennis hotspot during the off-season. From Jannik Sinner to Aryna Sabalenka, tennis players flock to the tropical islands for a holiday once they’ve played their last tournament of the year. But British No. 1 Emma Raducanu has been keeping things much closer to home in Bromley.
While Raducanu’s rivals are soaking up the sunshine, the 23-year-old decided to get back to some home comforts, staying in her childhood bedroom, catching the train, and even setting herself some homework after deciding to learn Spanish and French. “I need rest days from my rest days,” she joked.
The 2021 US Open champion is getting plenty of practice – she’s already speaking Spanish with her coach, Francisco Roig, and French with chiropractor Jerome Poupel. And Raducanu, who got an A* and A in her A-Levels, is enjoying balancing tennis with education again.
“I think it helps me big time. It just gives me something to occupy my brain with, because I would say I may be prone to overthinking, and my brain will just keep going if I don’t give it something to think about,” Raducanu said, speaking days before she jetted to Barcelona for a pre-season training block with Roig.
“So having these subjects that I’m studying, it does remind me of when I was younger, and I was juggling two things. I’m putting deadlines on myself to achieve certain things, and having homework to do. It’s like all very nostalgic, but in a good way,”
This off-season has been about nostalgia for the world No. 29, who is throwing herself into life at home in Bromley. “I was obviously toying with the idea when I finished, like, ‘Am I going to go somewhere? Am I going to have a holiday?’ I did want to have a holiday, but then I came back home, and I was like, I’m not leaving. Like, I’m just so settled,” she explained.
“I’ve barely been in the UK this year because I’ve been competing so much, but I think just spending really good quality time with my parents has been so nice. I have loved just being in Bromley. It just reminds me of when I was a younger kid, and it’s the same bedroom, same everything. Bromley has some amazing speciality coffee shops now, like a few years ago, that didn’t exist. But now it is the place for coffee.
“And I’ve been trying to try every new spot. It’s been really nice, and obviously so much greenery, and it’s been fun, actually. I’ve been commuting on the train. So I’ve been part of rush hour every day, which has also been an experience. But it’s like my switch off.”
People “sometimes” recognise Raducanu – but she’s embracing it. She added: “I’m like, okay, what are they going to see me on the tube? It’s not a bad thing. You know, people take the tube, it’s fine. I’m kind of just owning that more. It’s like, if people recognise me, if people see me, and they want to come up to me, then that’s great, but I don’t necessarily feel like I’m hiding from anything anymore.”
It’s a positive step for Raducanu, who has “gotten over” a scare at the Dubai Championships earlier this season, in which a ‘fixated spectator’ was removed from one of Raducanu’s matches. But the world No. 29 has been having so much fun with her friends this off-season that it has led to some confusion about a reported new boyfriend, who is actually her friend’s brother.
“What did creep me out was I saw a photo of myself in London, and I didn’t see the paps. I was with my two best friends. It was like some tabloid article saying, like I had a new boyfriend or whatever. But it’s literally my best friend’s brother. I was like, come on guys,” she explained.
“I was with my best friend’s brother, and we were going to the rugby. And of course, they cropped my best friend out. It was just me and this guy, and I just didn’t see the paps. So that’s obviously creepy. You know, when you when you’re like, ‘I didn’t see them. How did they kind of take this photo?’ But other than that, I feel good because someone’s always watching my back.”
Raducanu will now turn her attention to the 2026 season, spending the month in Barcelona with Roig. And she seems to be in the best headspace going into the New Year. After starting her career with an unprecedented Grand Slam victory as a teenage qualifier, the 23-year-old now feels content.
The British No. 1 concluded: “I think I’ve learned a lot about myself this year. I think the start of the year was not very smooth. I think I went through some very difficult times on and off the court at the start of the year. But I think it really taught me the strength that I have to pull myself out of it. Also what I need to do to avoid falling back in again.
“A lot of it is spending time studying, spending time learning, spending time nurturing my brain and just constantly that’s something I need. Learning about myself has been a great thing. So I feel very content, and I’m very pleased and grateful also for the great friends I’ve had. It’s been refreshing to kind of see them here and my parents too.”
