Emma Raducanu slammed by British tennis legend – ‘That is beyond belief’
British tennis legend John Lloyd has criticised Emma Raducanu’s decision to withdraw from the Billie Jean King Cup, while also hitting out at Jannik Sinner’s Davis Cup absence
Former British tennis ace John Lloyd has criticised Emma Raducanu for her decision to skip the Billie Jean King Cup. He was not pleased with Raducanu’s choice to withdraw and also took a swipe at Jannik Sinner for his absence from the Davis Cup.
According to Lloyd, both tournaments have lost their charm due to such decisions. Raducanu withdrew from the BJK Cup in September to focus on the WTA Tour, aiming for long-term improvement of her game.
She expressed her desire to spend more time training with her new coach, Francisco Roig, which irked Lloyd. Similarly, Sinner withdrew from the Davis Cup to gear up for the next season and has recently hinted at possibly missing the next edition as well.
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While appearing on the Mitch Michals podcast, Lloyd said: “To be honest, my reaction was sadness, not because Italy won it, but because of where the Davis Cup has come now. This, to me, I have been saying for years and years, that the Davis Cup has become a bit of a joke.
“It’s managed to get away with it, because when it’s being played in a different country, whether it’s patriotic, you still get people coming to watch, no matter what. But you cannot have a competition that is billed as the greatest team competition when you have one player in the top 10 playing.
“You cannot fool the public. You can in Italy because they want to see their own country and they are blessed with a lot of good players. But Musetti and Sinner did not play because of physical reasons.
“They basically said that they wanted a rest and they wanted to prepare for next year. That to me is beyond belief. That’s where the Davis Cup has come now. That never would have happened [in my era].”
Lloyd believes Raducanu had a realistic opportunity to claim victory in the competition for Britain. He said: “It’s not just the men, it’s the women. Look what has happened in the Billie Jean King Cup, which has also become a farce in that way. Emma Raducanu of Great Britain had a chance for the first time to possibly win it.
“She pulls out of it and says she wants to spend more time with the new coach and get ready for the next season or ranking points. I am thinking, are you kidding me?
“When is it not a privilege to play for your country? Where has the game come to now, where players are saying it’s the end of the season? What it shows is that the Davis Cup needs to change and needs to change radically.
“In my opinion, it should be every four years, but a best-case scenario should be every two years, so that you have a chance for these players to actually put it down on their top priority list and not just when it happens to be convenient in their schedule. There is something that has changed in the mentality of players now, and it’s a very sad thing for me to see that Davis Cup now is way down.”
The British tennis legend suggested that neither Sinner nor Raducanu fully understood the gravity of their decisions. He said: “I do fault them. I’m not sure whether it’s coming from agents, parents or just us as a sport, that have not got through to the players that representing your country should be the best honour there is in tennis, and it’s not.
“I do fault them for not playing because, for me, they have not got their priorities right. I understand there are all these other tournaments, but these players are in a position where they can demand things now as a unit.”
