Emma Raducanu breaks silence on Carlos Alcaraz romance rumours with four-word response

Edinburgh Live

16 hours ago

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Emma Raducanu has chuckled at the chatter of a budding romance with Carlos Alcaraz as Wimbledon looms. The British starlet is set to partner with Alcaraz for mixed doubles at the US Open this year, sparking whispers of a love link-up.
The UK's leading lady is gearing up to take on teen wildcard Mimi Xu in Wimbledon's first round come Monday. Currently ranked 38th globally, she's homing in on the clash following her stint at Eastbourne.
Still, she found herself fielding speculation about Alcaraz during her pre-tournament press briefing in SW19.
Having been chums with the Spanish sensation for a good four years, Raducanu was seen hitting balls with him at Wimbledon on Friday. When quizzed about whether tactics for the US Open came up, she said: "No, it was fun yesterday. We were both on court with (water brand) Evian.
"Yeah, we were just getting some volley practicing ahead of New York. Yeah, I'm really happy obviously to be playing with him. Yeah, we had a good time yesterday.", reports the Mirror.
Predictably, the press conference turned to the topic she likely anticipated. On probing whether there's any truth to the romantic links, Raducanu responded with a beam, asserting: "We're just good friends."
With that, the interview moderator intervened, closing down the query session, to which Raducanu mirthfully remarked: "Way to wrap up!".
Raducanu and Alcaraz, both 22 years old, have formed a friendship over the years. Raducanu recently shared the story of how they became close, saying: "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."
She recalled how Alcaraz's victories would motivate her to win her own matches, which often took place a day later. "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."
Raducanu also remembered Alcaraz's breakthrough win against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round, calling it a "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."
on a major stage. She cherished the experience of going through the US Open together and staying in touch throughout the tournament.
Their friendship has endured despite Alcaraz's rapid rise to success. 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."
She emphasized the value of connections made at a young age, especially as fame and success can lead to new, but less genuine, relationships. "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."