- Raducanu and Littler both shot to sporting superstardom as teenagers
- The Nuke became the youngest ever darts world champion in January
- Raducanu looking for inspiration as Australian Open campaign kicks off
There are not many who can relate to what it is like to be Emma Raducanu, catapulted overnight from anonymity to stardom. But one of the few is Luke Littler.
The comparison was put to Littler around this time last year, after his runner-up finish in the World Championship, and the darts prodigy seemed to only have the vaguest idea who Raducanu even was.
The 2021 US Open champion was only a bit less hazy herself — she did not realise Littler had gone one better and won the whole thing earlier this month.
‘Amazing respect to him, going out and backing it up and winning the title,’ she said, before being asked if she would be up for meeting the Nuke.
‘Big time,’ replied Raducanu, who faces No26 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the Australian Open tomorrow morning.
‘I’d love to meet any top athletes who have succeeded in their fields. Darts is such a precision sport, I’d be so interested to hear what he had to say about it, how he stays focused, because you can be so close but not necessarily execute the final shot. In that sense, it’s similar to tennis.’
Emma Raducanu shot to fame as a teenager when she secured a famous US Open title in 2021
Luke Littler dazzled Alexandra Palace to storm to a first World Championship in January, beating Michael van Gerwen in the final to become the youngest ever world champion at just 17
Does she tread the oche herself? ‘No, I’m really tragic,’ she said. ‘I’ve played with magnetic darts but… no, I need to try it out.’
Littler, so far, seems to be taking everything in his stride, but Raducanu has struggled at times to deal with the transformation of her life. Being plagued by paparazzi is just one thing to which she has been forced to adjust. ‘Not much prepares you for that, you feel like you’re constantly on edge because you’re being followed,’ she confessed.
‘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 it and just understand that it comes with the territory you’re in.’
Raducanu has been in reflective mood recently, harking back to the aftermath of her historic win in New York. ‘I didn’t necessarily have really strong foundations when I won the US Open,’ she said. ‘Now I’m building those and building a good team around me as well.
‘I feel like I’m in a place where I’m doing the work consistently and from here I can build.’
When Raducanu talks about building a good team, the most recent addition is fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura and she reveals he was key to her decision to pull out of the ASB Classic in Auckland, just before the Australian Open.
That withdrawal prompted the usual pile-on from social media, but Raducanu has learned to shut it all out.
Raducanu faces No26 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the Australian Open
The Brit has been solely focused on maintaining fitness for the major, pulling out of the ASB Classic in Auckland just prior to the Australian Open to make sure she is able to perform
‘Last year I probably would have played,’ she said. ‘But I think I’m growing the maturity and discipline to be like, “This is how I’m going to do it”.
‘I’m not going to get swayed by comments or anything because I know there’s a risk of setting myself back and doing big damage to the existing problem.
‘That was where it was really helpful to have Yutaka and Nick (Cavaday, her coach) just telling me how it is and being quite firm about the decision.’
