Emma Raducanu's tennis award sparks Ash Barty backlash: 'Utter joke'
Tennis teen sensation Emma Raducanu stunned the sport world to win her maiden grand slam title in 2021, but her award at the ESPYS has some questioning the snub of Ash Barty and Iga Swiatek.
Raducanu shot to superstardom at the end of 2021 having become the first player ever to win the US Open as a qualifier.
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Since her breakthrough the 19-year-old has struggled with form having split with a number of coaches as she continues to search for that elusive spark that saw her climb to the pinnacle of the sport.
This has seen her exit the Australia Open, French Open and Wimbledon in the second round in 2022.
Despite her struggle for form, the ESPY Sports Awards crowned her the female tennis player of the year.
She was in a bracket against Barty, World No.1 Swiatek and US Open runner-up Leylah Fernandez.
The ESPYS award for tennis player of the year is a fan vote, but many clearly believed Raducanu's stellar US Open campaign was enough to get her over the line.
However, this hasn't sat well with many tennis fans who have outed voters for the snub of Barty and Swiatek.
Barty won Wimbledon and the Aus Open since June last year and was a dominant World No.1 before announcing her shock retirement in February.
Swiatek has since taken over the World No.1 ranking, won Roland Garros and recently surpassed Venus and Serena Williams' undefeated runs to record a 37 match winning streak.
While Raducanu has recently admitted she is still new to the Tour and is learning along the way, the snub of arguably the two best tennis players over the last year had some fans fuming.
Others pointed out the award was a fan vote and Raducanu has made waves in the past year.
A nomination is ok for Rads but Barty or Swatek are more deserving of the award!
— Tinna (@Serenasoldier) July 21, 2022
Raducanu won tennis player of the year over Ashleigh Constance Barty
ESPY's are clownish awards— The Gambling Tailor (@TailorGang4Ever) July 21, 2022
Just woke up to the news that EMMA RADUCANU, who in the last 12 months has won 2 matches in a row about twice, got the espy for best womens tennis player?!?!?! Not Iga Swiatek, who at one point won 37 matches in a row??
— Thomas Tyson (@ThomasWTyson01) July 21, 2022
There's no way Emma Raducanu won the best women's tennis player ESPY.
She has more sub-100 losses in the last calendar year than she has top-40 wins IN HER CAREER— Potiphar (@EuroBigMacs) July 21, 2022
Emma Raducanu has won the 2022 ESPY award for Best Athlete Women's Tennis 👏
World No.1 Iga Swiatek and Australian Open champion Ashleigh Barty were nominated!! What a shame ! We know very well how it works ! It's not about tennis or sport ! It's totaly about something else ! https://t.co/ra88fNPbC7— Sofi.Naj (@SofiaAbidel) July 21, 2022
are people genuinely mad over raducanu winning an espy those awards are literally just a popularity contest relax😭
— liv (@washspirits) July 21, 2022
Raducanu won ESPY is baffled me.
— Retno Nino (MbakNin) - Pfizered 💉⚡️ (@theMiniNino) July 21, 2022
Genuine question @espn: what was the rationale behind nominating Raducanu for the ESPY best athlete in WTA award, and what was the rationale behind the decision to make her a winner? No disrespect to Raducanu at all, I just can't figure out what the criteria could have been
— Jo King 🎾❤🐺 (@FreeWorldPe0ple) July 21, 2022
Im not even a fan of her but Iga Swiatek becomes world number one, wins 6 consecutive tournaments and on a record breaking win streak yet its….. Raducanu who wins the award? Society is so sad. https://t.co/GTzrMJVDzX
— MA (@mowpowtow) July 21, 2022
Who are these fans. Even if it is a fan voted award but who thinks her as “ best tennis player 2022” .. I mean this Raducanu saga is an utter joke. https://t.co/0txo6V5oWw
— Vrushit Arora (@Vrushit23) July 21, 2022
Regardless of the debate, Raducanu is set to defend her US Open trophy after one of the greatest breakout year's seen for a tennis player in quite some time.
The other tennis award was handed to Rafa Nadal who won the ESPY for best men's tennis player.
The Spaniard returned from six months without tennis to win the Australian Open in 2022, before clinching his 14th Roland Garros title.
Nadal now leads the all-time grand slam list with 22 titles.
Ash Barty shuts down sporting comeback
Barty recently put a definitive end to speculation she could be making a return to professional sport, which has followed her since retiring from tennis while still the World No.1.
She has been spotted on the golf course a number of times in recent months, playing in the Icons Series event in the United States and appearing at St Andrews to cheer on Cameron Smith at The Open Championship.
But in an interview with 101.9 The Fox Melbourne’s Fif, Fev and Nick on Monday, Barty put the speculation firmly to bed and made the staggering revelation that she'll never play professional sport again.
“You guys just can’t accept that I don’t want to play professional sport anymore,” Barty said in response to a question from Brendan Fevola.
“I love golf, it’s a hobby of mine. It will not be my profession, I have no intention of making it my profession but I hack around once a week if I can - and I play off four.
“There’s no need, there’s no desire for me to play professional sport, particularly golf. I love it as a walk-around with my girlfriends and friends but yeah, not for me.”
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