‘People awfully quiet now’ – Emma Raducanu gains shock ally as tennis bad boy Nick Kyrgios leaps to her defence

NICK KYRGIOS lept to Emma Raducanu's defence during her impressive run in Miami.

Raducanu, 22, endured a difficult start to the year on and off the court.

She won just three of her first nine matches of 2025 which included early exits in Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Indian Wells.

The Brit also had the horrific and public stalking ordeal when a man displaying “fixated behaviour” followed her across the world then handed her a letter in Dubai before appearing in the crowd the next day.

Raducanu – who took a break from Instagram amid the troubling times – was forced to find a new coach when Nick Cavaday had to step away from the role for health reasons.

She worked with Tom Welsh briefly before Vlado Platenik joined her team on a trial basis.

However, Raducanu dumped him on the phone after just two weeks and one match.

The split came the night before the 2021 US Open champion played her first-round match at the Miami Open.

Raducanu thrashed Sayaka Ishii 6-2 6-1 in her first match before recording her securing her maiden top-ten win not on a grass court by outlasting world No10 Emma Navarro 7-6 2-6 7-6.

Raducanu's third-round opponent McCartney Kessler retired at 6-1 3-0 down, meaning the Bromley star will face No17 seed Amanda Anisimova in the last 16 on Monday, two months after she beat the American at the Australian Open.

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And Kyrgios took to social media during Raducanu's winning streak to throw her support behind the Brit.

The controversial Australian – who reached the second round in Miami to win a professional singles tennis match for the first time since October 2022 – could not resist a cheeky dig at the critics.

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He wrote: “People awfully quiet that Radacanu is winning now.

“Where all the experts at now?

“Lol coach’s overrated.”

Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon 2022 runner-up, has famously never had a coach during his pro career and revelled in the fact that Raducanu's superb run in Miami coincided with not having an official trainer.

After Miami, the tennis circuit moves to the clay where Raducanu has traditionally struggled the most but the world No60 does not have many points to defend and will therefore be hopeful of climbing up the rankings.