Revealed: Emma Raducanu's secret weapon at Wimbledon - a financier from Wigan!
Emma Raducanu has revealed her secret weapon at Wimbledon - a financier from Wigan who 'knows me inside out, better than I know myself'.
Most home eyes have again been on the 22-year-old, who won the US Open in 2021, becoming the first British woman to win a grand slam since Virginia Wade in 1977.
Since then, she's not had the easiest journey due to persistent injury problems.
But she is enjoying her tennis again - helped in no small part by her inner circle watching on in the stands.
"It's special at Wimbledon,' said Raducanu, who beat Swansea teenager Mimi Xu in round one. "I had really good friends in the box there.
"They're so busy with their work and study, so the way the stars aligned that they could all be here this week, it means so much when I see them there. It just makes me really happy."
Coach Mark Petchey is a key component of 'Team Raducanu' - 'I'd give him 11 out of 10' - but she also leans heavily on Jane O'Donoghue, who hails from Orrell and was one of her first mentors.
O'Donoghue has had to limit her input due to her work with the Royal Bank of Canada, but Raducanu is in no doubt as to her huge importance.
"She's a great friend,' said Raducanu, whose mum and dad both work in the finance sector. "She just brings a lot of support, someone who knows me inside out, better than I know myself.
"So just to have her there, her belief and confidence in me, it means a lot. I love seeing her there in the box."
Indeed, Raducanu has so much respect for O'Donoghue, she would not even dream of asking her to give up her career in finance to become a more regular face on the tennis circuit.
"She's doing so well in her career,' said Raducanu, who was born in Canada to a Romanian dad and Chinese mum, and who now lives in Bromley. "It would be a very big ask for me and I'm not sure if that's something that I want to do because we have a great friendship.
"It is different when you mix friendship with having someone on your team full-time. So I really want to protect our relationship."
Earlier this year, Raducanu spoke about the need to 'figure another solution out' to her coaching dilemma, with Petchey also unable to commit full-time due to his media duties.
"It's been working pretty well," Raducanu said. "Mark is doing his commentary work and around that he is going to help me as much as he can and hopefully the times align so that he can be there with me in the matches.
"That's why Jane is here for when he's not able to make it to the session. While she's not working it's nice to have her as much as possible, but she will go back to work and then I need to figure another solution out."