Emma Raducanu's mum "shouts at [her] for everything".

Emma Raducanu still lives with her parents

Emma Raducanu still lives with her parents

The 19-year-old tennis player still lives at home in London with her parents Ian and Renee and despite her sporting success, she still views herself as a typical teenager.

She admitted: "‘I’d say I’m really normal, my mum shouts at me for everything. Like, 'Wash your face!' Because otherwise I pretty much don’t.

"I’m just a normal kid, a normal 19 year old.

"[I'm home] two or three days a month, if that. My bedroom is a mess, always, because I’m always coming in, unpacking everything, and when I unpack, the whole street knows. It’s like a bomb exploded."

Emma credits her father and mother - who were born in Romania and China respectively - for her strong work ethic because they've always pushed her hard to achieve their "high standards".

She told the Telegraph magazine: "My parents’ culture has definitely played a big part in my mindset, because I’ve always been taught the way they think. They’re really tough to please, so I’ve always had to work extra hard and have high standards, because I’ve always wanted to impress them.

"They made it clear to me when something wasn’t good enough. That’s a big factor in why I’m here today… they weren’t giving me any sort of false confidence."

And the tennis ace admitted she gets "no break" because her parents are always "tough" on her.

She added: "That’s the thing, I have no break. The things my dad is tough on me about, my mum’s chilled about; the things my dad’s chilled about, my mum is on me for.

"Mum’s more on the mental and the off-court, respect side of things… and then my dad is more on the business and task side."

Emma won the US Open last year, shortly after taking her A Levels, and she wishes she'd taken a holiday afterwards.

She said: "I didn’t really give myself that space. I was just straight into the next thing, and I completely forgot I won. I was just so focused, which is the way it should be, but if you go straight into it too soon, you lose that spark you had."

And Emma wishes she spent more time being proud of her achievements instead of just constantly driving herself towards her next goal.

She said: "A lot of the time I forget [about being a Grand Slam champion], and that’s one thing I think I should do more – wake up and be proud of my achievements, and of myself, rather than giving myself a hard time about other things.

"I wake up knowing, look, I started playing tennis as a kid wanting to win a Grand Slam, that’s what I set out [to do], but of course I would want more, and it’s tough to not be absorbed in the results and to really enjoy what you’re doing."


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