Tim Henman snubs Emma Raducanu and names Brit he expects to shine at Wimbledon
Tim Henman has made his early Wimbledon predictions.
Tim Henman has backed Katie Boulter to go further at Wimbledon than Emma Raducanu.
The British No.1 beat the former US Open champion in the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open - and was the last home player left at The Championships last year when she reached the third round. The Leicester City fan will be seeded for the first time as well.
But Raducanu reached the fourth round on her SW19 debut in 2021 and then became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade in 1977.
Asked who would go further, BBC analyst Henman said: That’s a good question. I think probably Boulter. She’s knocking on the door of the top 20. She’s just a bit more experienced and played a lot more tennis. But I definitely think they both could be in the second week. It would be interesting to see.
"We have our wildcard meeting next week and again those British stories are fascinating in the Championship when we have British men and women doing well, the crowd get behind them, it creates so many stories for you guys. Fingers crossed, there will be a lot more of them this year.”
Boulter and Raducanu had been one win away each from another semi-final showdown at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne
But British No.1 Katie Boulter lost her first grasscourt match of the season when she could not handle the blustery conditions nor French Open finalist Jasmine Paolini.
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Raducanu failed to back up her first win over a top-10 player as she went out No.6 seed Daria Kasatkina. And with Harriet Dart also going out, Virginia Wade remains the last female winner of the title on the South Coast back in 1975.
Italian Paolini, who had a bye in the first round and then saw her next opponent pull out, secured her first-ever Tour-level win on grass by beating Boulter 6-1 7-6.
The Leicester City fan, who was also distracted by a seagull and litter, said: “It was very, very tricky today. I don't think it was about how you hit your forehand or how you hit your backhand. It was more about I think probably a bit of a mental game and trying to stay calm in the wind. I don't think my game really suited it today. Credit to her, she played better than me today.”
Raducanu had her serve broken six times as she lost 6-2 6-2 by last year's finalist Kasatkina.
“I'd say it was up there with the worst I have played in, especially on the tour,” said the Bromley-based star. “Maybe back in the junior days I played in a similar level of wind, but very rarely and also a different level of opposition.”