Former US Open champion, Emma Raducanu has revealed she has deleted Instagram and WhatsApp from her phone in an effort to ‘live under [her] own little rock’ following criticism on social media.
The British women’s No 1, who beat Danka Kovinic to progress to the second round at Indian Wells on Thursday, removed the social media apps following her exit at the Australian Open in January.
Following her explosion onto the global tennis stage a year-and-a-half ago, Raducanu has signed a number of high-profile partnerships with brands such as Tiffany & Co, Dior, British Airways, and Evian.
Some have offered up the commitments of these brand endorsements as reasons why the player is yet to match the success she saw earlier on in her professional career.
In an interview with The Times, Raducanu shared her decision was led by going through a moment in time where she just wanted to ‘zone in’ on herself.
‘After [the removal], I’ve just been living under my own little rock,’ Raducanu said.
‘Sometimes you just go through some patches where you feel like you just want to zone in on yourself. I was very content with my life, what I was doing with it.’
The world No 77 added: ‘I think that [negativity] is part of social media.
‘I feel that it affects you, but I’ve just learned regardless of what you do – if you do good, if you do bad – people are going to come at you regardless.
‘Now it doesn’t really bother me so much and I don’t really let it affect me.’
Due to those ongoing deals, her account has stayed active, even though it may now be run by a management agency.
The 20-year-old is the fifth-most followed tennis player on Instagram, with 2.5 million followers, ranking only behind ‘big three’ players Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Nick Kyrgios, and Naomi Osaka.