"The jury is out on whether she’ll win another Grand Slam at all": Castle not putting expectation on Raducanu's return

Andrew Castle shared his opinion on Emma Raducanu's potential in future Grand Slams.

The former tennis player reached world No. 80 in 1988, making him the top-ranked British player of that era. Castle also reached the mixed doubles final at the 1987 Australian Open with his compatriot Anne Hobbs. Since his retirement, he has been a prominent broadcaster and tennis commentator.

Andrew Castle spoke about young star Emma Raducanu, who rose to fame overnight after winning the 2021 US Open as a qualifier, winning ten consecutive matches over the course of three weeks.

The British player has been dealing with constant injuries that have prevented her from reaching her best level again, and doubts about the future of her career are growing.

In an interview with Metro.co.uk, Castle commented: “‘I hope she’s enjoying some downtime.”

“I hope she’s doing a bit of socialising as well as recovery, it’s a really weird inverted career path. You know, most people build, build, build again and then have a shot at Grand Slam,” he added.

“And in fact, they normally have several shots at them. She goes in and wins one from qualifying. I mean it’s unheard of and nobody wanted to hear it at the time,”

“Like, you know, be patient. It’s not always gonna be this way, but I’m afraid it’s kind of a really odd but fabulous start,” Castle said.

At 18 years old, she became a Grand Slam champion, which generated high expectations, but she couldn't replicate the good results since then and dropped from the top 10 to outside the top 100.”

“Now, she has to kind of restart, reset and go again and she’s an adult now,” he added.

“She has her own life, I hope she takes some control of that herself, I hope she makes some coaching decisions herself,”

“Just go and play. Rediscover the joy. I don’t expect her to win Wimbledon next year, no. I think that the jury is out on whether she’ll win another Grand Slam at all,” Castle concluded.