EMMA RADUCANU beamed as she watched Carlos Alcaraz on Centre Court – amid romance rumours between the pair.
Alcaraz – the reigning Wimbledon men’s champion – faced Andrey Rublev in the Last 16 of the tournament.
And seen smiling from ear to ear on Australia’s Channel 9 broadcast was Raducanu – recently beaten in round three by World No1 Aryna Sabalenka – as Alcaraz beat Rublev 6-7 6-3 6-4 6-4.
Raducanu brought in over five millions viewers for her defeat to Sabalenka – the third-highest ratings for any non-final contest in the last three years.
The enthralling contest, which saw world No1 Sabalenka narrowly beat British favourite Raducanu 7-6 6-4, was watched by a peak audience of 5.32 million.
Off the court, Raducanu, 22, has been romantically Alcaraz, 22, but she has denied any sort of a relationship.
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She said: “We’re just good friends.”
The two will be a little more than just friends at the US Open in August after announcing they will team up for the mixed doubles event in New York.
Raducanu has been friends with Alcaraz since 2021 – the year she shot to prominence by winning the US Open aged 18.
And she said: “I’ve known him for years and actually in Wimbledon 2021 it was like kind of the first time I started getting to know him, and I had a good run there and then also again in the US Open in 2021.
“And I remember he was always playing the day before me and I was playing like the second day of the round.
“And I would see him win and then I would have motivation to win and get myself into that position too.
“And I remember he beat Stef [Tsitsipas] in the third round and it was like a big win, his breakout kind of win on a big stage and it was really cool to kind of, I guess, go through that tournament together.
“And then I kept going through the US Open, but we were staying in touch for the whole time and yeah, it’s nice.”
The pair will be playing doubles together in seven weeks time in the new-look US Open mixed doubles tournament.
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