Tennis-Gauff urges Raducanu not to focus on social media

October 6, 2021

(Reuters) – American teenager Coco Gauff has urged U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu to be wary of social media following the Briton’s maiden Grand Slam triumph at Flushing Meadows last month.

Raducanu, who became the first qualifier to win a major, has since gained thousands of new followers on social media, setting up an account on Chinese microblogging site Weibo to keep in touch with fans in that country.

Gauff, who shot to fame as a 15-year-old when she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2019, urged the 18-year-old Raducanu to take time away from her phone.

” … It is exciting when you get all the retweets, all the follows and all of that, but it can be a bit overwhelming. At least in my experience. That’s probably what I wish I would’ve known, not to focus on social media,” said the world number 19.

Roger Federer, a 20-times Grand Slam champion, also recently suggested that the next generation of tennis stars like Raducanu needed help to prevent abuse on social media affecting them.

“I put a time limit on my phone because I thought I was spending too much time on it. From 8:30am to 9:30pm I have limited access to apps,” Gauff added.

Gauff and Raducanu will be in action this week at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which returns after two years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)

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