By John Jones
All eyes will be on Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon on Friday as she takes on top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the women’s singles at SW19. The 22-year-old has impressed in the opening two rounds of this year’s tournament, easing past Welsh teenager Mimi Xu with a 6-3, 6-3 victory in her first match before beating Marketa Vondrousova by the same scoreline in round two. However, the biggest challenge of her campaign so far awaits on Centre Court on Friday afternoon, with Sabalenka currently the top-ranked women’s player in the world. With the home crowd behind her, however, Raducanu will be hoping to cause an upset as she looks to let her tennis do the talking, having never really lived up to the 2021 US Open triumph that catapulted her to fame as a teenager. Going into this year’s Wimbledon, however, much of the conversation around Raducanu revolved around her life away from the court, particularly her personal relationships. While there’s lots of rumours, there is no confirmation Raducanu is currently in a relationship. The British star has seen herself romantically linked to a host of different men both within and outside of tennis, with rumours swirling ahead of the tournament of a potential relationship between her and reigning Wimbledon men’s singles champion Carlos Alcaraz. Suggestions that the pair were more than just friends first emerged last summer, but gathered pace last month when it was announced that they would partner each other in the mixed doubles competition at the US Open later this year. Raducanu was also seen cheering on Alcaraz as he won the men’s singles event at Queen’s, while reports emerged that the Spanish star had visited her at her hotel during the tournament. But while tongues were wagging, the British ace soon shut down the speculation at a Wimbledon press conference, telling reporters: “We’re just good friends”. Despite Raducanu’s insistence, rumours linking her to Alcaraz have persisted with Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios stirring the pot by claiming that she is in a ‘love triangle’ with the Spaniard and fellow British player Jack Draper, who she has also been linked with having known him since childhood. “I don’t know, I think it’s a love triangle,” he told talkSPORT. “They’re [Alcaraz and Draper] fighting over Raducanu I think, I’m not sure.” However, the links between Raducanu, Alcaraz and Draper have since been superseded by rumours of a new man in the British women’s No.1’s life. Former tennis prodigy Benjamin Heynold was seen supporting Raducanu at Wimbledon earlier this week, sitting alongside her coach Nick Cavaday as she beat Vondrousova on Wednesday. Now a 24-year-old student at the University of North Carolina, Heynold has known the British star since they were six, while they both represented Team GB together at junior level. While not much else is known about Heynold, his long-standing friendship with Raducanu has led to speculation that their relationship may have evolved into something more serious, as he was also seen in her corner at Queen’s last month, as well as other tournaments previously. It comes after Raducanu was also linked to David and Victoria Beckham’s son Romeo after he watched her in action against Elise Mertens at Wimbledon last year. The former Brentford footballer took to Instagram while at the match to post a picture of Raducanu playing, which he accompanied with two love heart emojis. While the post again set tongues wagging, Raducanu played down suggestions of a romantic link after the match as she said: “I mean, I think he’s, yeah, he’s really cool. “His dad is, you know, someone that I think every athlete looks up to, especially every British athlete, you know what he’s kind of gone through with the media, with his career, with the pressure moments.” Speculation around Raducanu’s personal life follows her split from Carlo Agostinelli, the son of billionaire Robert Agostinelli and a footballer previously on the books of Tottenham Hotspur, last year. The couple reportedly first started dating in May 2023 and were seen on trips together, including one to Mexico as they attended Dior’s 2024 Cruise show. They were also seen walking arm-in-arm and smiling together at Paris Fashion Week as their romance was confirmed. However, they later split up, with Raducanu unfollowing Agostinelli on social media just weeks ahead of last year’s Wimbledon. While her love life is a hot topic at present, the tennis ace has revealed that her parents imposed a ‘boyfriend’ ban on her when she was younger, in order to keep her focused on her training. “My parents were very much against [boyfriends] as it interfered with training,” she told The Times. “When I was younger I wasn’t even allowed to hang out with my girl friends. “A lot of the time I was very resentful [of the ban]. But it made me very confident and comfortable in my own company, which is also a big strength.”