The US Open champion played her first matches on Centre Court at a time when new heroes are needed at SW19
Farewell to all that then. In the end Emma Raducanu’s first superstar Wimbledon, her first as a champion – or increasingly, in front of a fond, rapt Centre Court as Em! – could only stretch to three days and two matches.
On a chilly June afternoon the British No 1 was beaten in straight sets by Caroline Garcia of France. And there will be sadness at such a meek exit. For Raducanu because she was simply blown away by a more powerful opponent, a moment of cold, hard sporting reality for a teenager who is still just a year into her own elevation from schoolgirl to sporting A-lister and all-round pop celebrity. And also for the All England club, the BBC and the entire Wimbledon industrial complex, which has a hunger for Raducanu now, which feasts on its stars, building its sporting-hospitality monoliths around them every summer.
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