Singing fan humorously hijacks Raducanu’s Wimbledon interview

Emma Raducanu loves No.1 Court at Wimbledon, and the court loves her right back — as evidenced by the singing fan who humorous hijacked her victory speech after her second-round win against Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Wednesday.

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Riding a wave of raucous support, Raducanu eased to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Mertens that put the 2021 US Open champion through to the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time since winning in New York three summers ago. And before she could fully settle in to soak in the moment during her on-court interview with Rishi Prasad, Raducanu had her attention diverted to a spectator could be heard substituting her name to the tune of the famed “Ole, Ole, Ole” celebratory chant.

Raducanu humorously played up the interruption, raising the microphone in the direction of the stands before continuing.

“I’m so, so grateful to everyone and the support today. With the roof closed especially, it was super loud,” she said. “I’m really, really appreciative and grateful to everyone for making a lot of noise.”

Another well-meaning heckler dubbed her victory “beautiful” before Raducanu got the chance to describe her performance herself.

“This guy said it,” she joked.

The crowd continued to roar as Raducanu called the court her favorite to play on at Wimbledon, and afterwards, she said that her connection to Wimbledon’s second show court goes well past a well-meaning crooner.

“When I think of Court 1, I just think of that amazing win against Sorana Cirstea, 6-3, 7-5, in the third round of her 2021 Wimbledon debut]. That was my first kind of coming out into tennis society, if you would like to call it,” Raducanu said post-match.

“I just have such amazing memories from that court. I think that match in particular, it was the first time playing on a court that size. The crowd, the environment, the feeling of adjusting at the start, to just playing on a court that big. I only have good memories from that court.”

But with a match-up against No.9 seed Maria Sakkari awaiting — a rematch of the US Open semifinal between the two that Raducanu won on her way to the title — she might be ticketed once more for the Centre Court stage.