Emma Raducanu lifts lid on Carlos Alcaraz relationship as Spaniard ‘kept on his toes’

Emma Raducanu is set to team up with Carlos Alcaraz as part of a blockbuster doubles pairing at the US Open and the Brit has now opened up on their agreement to link up

Emma Raducanu has admitted she left Carlos Alcaraz hanging about their US Open pairing despite the two being long-term pals. The Brit is set to team up with the back-to-back Wimbledon men’s champion at the US Open later this year.

It represents a blockbuster pairing for Raducanu but she has revealed that she left the Spaniard waiting after his initial request. Asked about their upcoming doubles campaign, the 22-year-old joked: “Gotta keep them on their toes!”

She added: “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.”

The US Open represents a reunion of kind for both Raducanu and Alcaraz having struck up a friendship at the tournament nearly four years ago. She said: “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.

“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.

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“And I remember he beat Stef [Tsitsipas] in the third round and it was like a big win, his breakout kind of win on a big stage and it was really cool to kind of, I guess, go through that tournament together and then I kept going through the US Open, but we were staying in touch for the whole time and yeah, it’s nice.”

The pair have remained close ever since despite their careers going in opposite directions ever since. Raducanu said: “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.”

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Raducanu will certainly hope that her link-up with Alcaraz can help her to earn more success at the US Open. She won a shock women’s singles title in 2021 on debut, becoming just the second ever star to do so.

But she hasn’t been able to replicate that form since having failed to reach the second round in each of her last two appearances, while she missed the 2023 edition.

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