Emma Raducanu has hailed Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge a “great inspiration”.
The 19-year-old tennis champion is very impressed with the way the 39-year-old royal – who has three children, Princes George and Louis, eight and three, and six-year-old Princess Charlotte, with husband Prince William – handles life in the public eye and uses her high profile to do “so much good work” for the charitable causes that are important to her.
She told People magazine: “I think the duchess is such a great inspiration, just with how she handles everything and how she does so much good work for charities. She’s a real inspiration to the whole country.”
In September, Emma partnered Catherine for a short doubles game during an event for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), of which the duchess is patron, and the US Open winner admitted it was “pretty surreal experience”.
Noting her royal partner – who is an avid fan of the sport – played “very well”, Emma said: “It was a pretty surreal experience to be playing tennis with the duchess.
“It was kind of crazy, but she was really down to earth and normal. So I found it a really cool experience
Emma admitted she’s learned a lot over the last year and is working on being more “patient” and “kind” to herself as she can be “very tough” when she doesn’t get the results she’s hoping for.
She said: “A lot of the time I can get so caught up in the moment and caught up in a particular shot that, I’m very tough on myself. So to step back and look at how far I’ve come, I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned [this year], just to be patient.”