Former British No 1 Dan Evans has confidently predicted that Emma Raducanu “will win Wimbledon some day”.
“She’s good, and I think – I’m saying this in as nice a way as possible – I think she thinks she’s good,” the now-retired Evans told The Telegraph in an interview.
“Not in an arrogant way, but when she plays big matches, she’s like ‘Whatever. This is just another match.’ And yeah, I just think one day she’ll get it.”
Raducanu won the US Open as an 18-year-old qualifier in 2021 but it remains the only title of her career and she has only reached the fourth round of a grand slam tournament once in the five years since.
The 2026 season has been another disappointing one for Raducanu as she has dropped out of the world’s top 100 after missing Wimbledon and the US Open due to a stress fracture in her right leg.
Injuries and fitness issues have been a constant theme of Raducanu’s career since her stunning US Open triumph, while there have been questions over her committement, but Evans believes the 23-year-old is working hard to try and achieve her goals.
“There’s no doubt she needs to have a racket in her hand a bit more,” he said. “I’m sure she’s getting pushed side-to-side by endorsements, and there’s a bit of tug of war on what she needs to do, what she doesn’t.
“I admit I’ve not watched her practices very often, but from what I’m told she’s a good trainer: she works for two, three hours in a row with hardly any break.”
Evans, 36, retired at this year’s Wimbledon in a low-key end to a career that saw him reach the world’s top-30. The Birmingham player was controversially denied a Wimbledon singles wildcard and played his final doubles match out on Court 15, rather than a main show court.
Evans said he was shown a “lack of respect” during his final grass-court season and blamed Leon Smith, Great Britain’s Davis Cup captain and the head of men’s tennis for the Lawn Tennis Association, for denying him wildcards into tournaments.
“My gripe is that there’s no connection made between what people have done for British tennis, by playing in the Davis Cup, and the wildcards,” Evans added. “Because, the amount of times I probably didn’t want to play Davis Cup, but I did it... and then I couldn’t get a wild card into the Ilkley Challenger.
“I just think it’s a lack of respect, but that’s what you come to expect from the Davis Cup captain. Once he doesn’t need you, that’s what you get, isn’t it? So, you know, he won’t be on my Christmas cards this year, and he didn’t respond to my message I sent him after [retirement].”