Emma Raducanu new boyfriend speculation emerges as familiar tennis face spotted

Wales Online

13 hours ago

Emma Raducanu new boyfriend speculation emerges as familiar tennis face spotted
Emma Raducanu was supported by Benjamin Heynold at Queen's as she prepares for Wimbledon
Emma Raducanu and Benjamin Heynold
(Image: Emma Raducanu/ Instagram )
Speculation is swirling in the tennis world that Emma Raducanu has a new boyfriend after a familiar face was spotted in her corner at Queen's this week.
College tennis star Benjamin Heynold was alongside coach Nick Cavaday and agent Thomas Houchin as Raducanu was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the competition on Friday afternoon. Raducanu, 22, is two years younger than Heynold and has known him for most of her life.
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MailOnline now report friends have said their close friendship may have turned romantic in recent times.
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Heynold, 24, is a student at the the University of North Carolina and has previously represented Team GB alongside Raducanu, who he has known since she was six-years-old.
They played together in competitions across the country as juniors, including at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017. He has since quit the sport to study in America.
The rumours come over a year after the tennis star split from boyfriend Carlo Agostinelli, who was the son of a billionaire business tycoon.
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Emma Raducanu with Carlo Agostinelli
Raducanu has been the subject of romantic rumours involving Romeo Beckham, Jack Draper and even Carlos Alcaraz over the past year after previously revealing she hasn't had many relationships because of her strict upbringing.
"My parents were very much against [boyfriends] as it interfered with training,' she told The Times.
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"When I was younger I wasn't even allowed to hang out with my girl friends.
"A lot of the time I was very resentful.
"But it made me very confident and comfortable in my own company, which is also a big strength."
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Emma Raducanu of Great Britain
(Image:for LTA )
Meanwhile, Raducanu insisted she is not 'overly concerned' about her ongoing back issues but conceded she may need to re-think her next steps after bowing out in the Queen's quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 loss to Chinese first-seed Qinwen Zheng.
Raducanu, who officially supplants Katie Boulter as British number one on Monday, planned for next week's Berlin Open to be the next step on her quest to secure seeding at Wimbledon, but required an off-court medical time out before the second set.
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The 22-year-old was the last Briton standing in this new WTA 500 event, the first time women's tennis had been played at Queen's since 1973.
'I'm not overly concerned that it's something serious, but I know it's something that's very annoying and needs proper and careful management,' said Raducanu, who revealed she had been taped up for stability and took some painkillers.