Emma Raducanu has seemingly taken a swipe at Andy Murray's mother Judy amid her women's singles campaign at the ongoing Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington, D.C. Raducanu's apparent swipe came during a brief exchange with Frances Tiafoe and seemed to refer to Judy's reaction to the Brit withdrawing from the mixed doubles event at the 2024 Wimbledon Championships, where she was supposed to partner Murray.
The former WTA World No. 10's decision to pull out from playing mixed doubles with Murray polarized the tennis world. On one hand, some supported Raducanu for prioritizing her singles campaign at the grasscourt Major. However, on the other, some critics suggested that the 21-year-old was selfish in bringing an anti-climactic end to former ATP World No. 1 Murray's Wimbledon career.
When the news of Raducanu withdrawing from the Wimbledon mixed doubles event initially surfaced on X (formerly Twitter), Murray's mother Judy was among the first to react. In her response to the news, Judy had written:
Raducanu is currently competing at the Mubadala Citi DC Open and is set to face home hope Peyton Stearns next in the second round of the WTA 500 hardcourt event on Wednesday, July 31. Recently, the 2021 US Open champion took to Instagram to post a few photos of her first-round win at the WTA 500 event against Elise Mertens. The Brit captioned the post:
Tiafoe, who is also competing at the event in both the men's singles and men's doubles categories, commented on the post, writing:
Raducanu later replied to the former ATP World No. 10, commenting:
Murray's mother Judy came under fire from several sections of the tennis fraternity for her "astonishing" remark in reaction to Raducanu's withdrawal from the mixed doubles event at Wimbledon. The criticism was that many players, including Murray himself, were likely to take the same step as Raducanu, had they found themselves in a similar situation.
Judy later took to X again, this time to defend her reaction to the 2021 US Open champion's withdrawal. According to the 64-year-old, she was only being sarcastic. She also wrote that the hectic scheduling of Raducanu's matches was certain to have played its part in the Brit's decision to withdraw from mixed doubles.
Right now, Murray is featuring in men's doubles action at the 2024 Paris Olympics, having earlier pulled out of men's singles. The three-time Major winner has paired up with Daniel Evans, with the duo reaching the third round after defeating the Belgian pair of Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen.
Raducanu's Subtle Dig at Judy Murray
New day, new controversy! Tennis fans are no strangers to the sport’s dramatic twists and turns, and the latest clash promises to be just as thrilling. British tennis star Emma Raducanu has spiced things up with a cheeky retort aimed at none other than Judy, the mother of Andy Murray, in what seems to be a veiled attack. And it all started with two words!
Raducanu is currently playing at the Washington Open after she decided to withdraw from the Paris Olympics, to avoid transitioning challenges. She won the first match of the championship after which she put a series of pictures on her Instagram. And this was where the controversy started to embroil.
Commenting on her post, Frances Tiafoe asked her for a mixed doubles partnership at the event. “Mixed…”, the American star wrote. Responding to this, the Brit star wrote “Astonishing 🤣” in a similar tone to Judy. Earlier, Murray appeared to criticize the WTA star after she decided to withdraw from the mixed doubles at Wimbledon.
The Backstory
For the unversed, Murray was set to participate in the mixed doubles with Raducanu in his final Wimbledon campaign. However, the 21-year-old decided to withdraw from the category ahead of the first-round match citing soreness in her right wrist. This decision marked the end of Judy’s son’s career at SW19, which seemed to annoy the 64-year-old. Commenting on sports broadcaster Marcus Buckland’s tweet that expressed astonishment over Raducanu’s decision, Judy had written,
“Yes, astonishing.” Remember, Andy Murray is playing the final tournament of his career with the legendary player set to retire after the Olympics. Many took this as a swipe against the young 2021 US Open champion. However, she had clarified herself later with yet another tweet that claimed her previous response to be sarcasm. “Not sure anyone understands sarcasm these days.” But despite this, Raducanu seems to have not forgotten the flak and controversy that she had to go through as a result of her decision.
Raducanu's Washington Open Campaign
For Raducanu, it will be interesting to see if this comment takes yet another ugly turn and if she receives more backlash over her remarks. But as for her ongoing campaign at Washington, the Brit is facing some peculiar difficulties.
Emma played against Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the first round of her Washington Open match. But while she won the match in three sets with the scoreline that read 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, she seemed to be in trouble due to jetlag. Speaking after winning the match, Raducanu revealed the challenges she faced on Tuesday.
“I was playing some pretty good tennis in patches throughout, especially in the first set and moments in the third set. I lost some focus in the second. It’s not easy playing at 11.30pm. I got here on Thursday night so I’m still jet lagged.” However, the 21-year-old kept her resilience intact. “I was telling myself, “I’m not leaving. This is not happening. You’re not losing this match!”
While only time will tell if Raducanu benefits from her decision to skip the Paris Olympics or not, the US Open is definitely what the Brit must be eyeing at the moment. Can she lift another title at Flushing Meadows? Will have to figure it out.
