‘Gotta keep them on their toes!’ — Emma Raducanu explains why she made Alcaraz wait for doubles decision

After finalising her decision to play mixed doubles with Carlos Alcaraz at this year’s US Open, Emma Raducanu shares about her relationship with the Spanish athlete. 

Back then, Alcaraz admitted that Raducanu took her time to reply to his invitation to be his partner for the mixed doubles at the tournament. The Briton remarked that she needed to consult her coach and her team first, although she was eager to say yes. 

The Briton stated: “Gotta keep them on their toes!… I mean, of course, I had to ask my team if they wanted me to play. But for me, when he asked me, I was going to say yes, I just had to kind of go through the formality of asking my coach, so I didn’t just make the decision.” 

Raducanu and Alcaraz’s relationship 

Raducanu acknowledged that Alcaraz had inspired her to win the US Open title in 2021. She followed his progress to the quarterfinals and felt inspired to run after him. 

“I’ve known him for years and actually in Wimbledon 2021 it was like kind of the first time I started getting to know him, and I had a good run there and then also again in the US Open in 2021,” she said.

“And I remember he was always playing the day before me and I was playing like the second day of the round. And I would see him win and then I would have motivation to win and get myself into that position too,” she added. 

Raducanu tends to be close to people who have known her before she won the US Open, and it’s the same with Alcaraz. The British athlete further stated: “We have a good relationship still. He’s obviously overtaken me a lot, but it’s nice that we have that from a while ago.” 

“I think for all of us, we really kind of value those connections that we had from when we were young because when you become a bit more known or a bit more successful, you just find yourself reverting back to people you knew from a young age because you’re like, that’s a real genuine connection, because it becomes very busy and you have a lot more friends but the ones that you’ve known for a long time mean a lot more to you,” she said. 

Alcaraz also shared how excited he is to play with Emma Raducanu. In recent news, he stated: “She’s gonna be the boss… I’m super excited about it. I think it’s going to be great. It was an amazing idea for the tournament… I’ve known Emma for a really long time, so we know each other. I have a really good relationship with her. We are going to enjoy it, for sure.”