Emma Raducanu hasn’t followed up her early promise in the same way Luke Littler has done – and she’s keen to find out why.
The British talent is back in action at the Australian Open where she’s hoping to finally get back among the elite.
The Bromley native shocked the world of sport in 2021 when she won the US Open, becoming the first qualifier to win a major and the first women’s Grand Slam winner since 1977.
Yet injuries and poor form have dogged her progress since then, which can’t be said for Littler.
The 17-year-old burst onto the scene at the 2024 PDC World Championship as he made the final, and he followed up on that promise with three Premier Event wins before becoming world champion at the second time of asking at the start of 2025.
Unsurprisingly, Raducanu was asked for her thoughts on her countryman and told The Times: “Amazing respect to him.
“Especially for going out and backing it up by winning the title. It’s difficult.”
When questioned if she’d like to meet the new face of darts to learn from him, she said: “Big time.
“I’d love to meet any top athletes and top individuals who have succeeded in their fields.
“I think darts is such a precision sport that I’d be so keen and interested to hear things that he had to say about it, and [how to] stay focused.
“Because you can be so close but not necessarily execute the final shot. In that sense, it’s quite similar to tennis.”
In the same year as her legendary US Open win, Raducanu went to the fourth round at Wimbledon, a feat she repeated in 2024 as the 22-year-old showed some of her best form.
Ranked 56th in the world, she’s now hoping to return to the top 30, but injuries are still lingering to start 2025 after a difficult few years.
In 2023 she underwent major surgery on both wrists and an ankle, but reflecting on the previous years, she admits that she struggled with public scrutiny as much as injuries.
“Not much prepares you for that,” she explained. “You feel like you’re constantly a bit on edge because you’re being followed [by photographers] or something.
“But I think the biggest part is the judgment and the comments about every single decision that you make.
“That for me was really difficult to deal with, to try and desensitise myself to and just understand that it comes with the territory you’re in.
“But I think trying to stay away from that and keep on my path has probably been the biggest adjustment for me.”
Reflecting on what she’s learned since, she continued: “In my case, I didn’t necessarily have really strong foundations when I won the US Open.
“Now I feel like I’m building those and building a good team around me as well.
“Now I feel like I’m in a place where I’m actually doing the work consistently, I can stay healthy, and I think from here I can build on it, whereas before I felt like I’d kind of won the big thing with not the strongest foundations.
“And I think that’s everything for sustainability.”
