“WHO REALLY HAS HER HEART?” 💔 — Emma Raducanu’s Boyfriend Mystery Leaves Tennis Fans Intrigued as Her Relationship History, Rumoured Romances and Private Love Life Come Under the Spotlight
The US Open is fully underway, and tennis fans will notice that one star player is noticeably missing: Emma Raducanu.
It’s a tournament that has special significance for the British player. Five years ago, a then 18-year-old Raducanu dazzled the tennis world by becoming the first and only qualifier to win the US Open, securing the women’s singles title.
This year, we won’t be seeing the tennis star on the court. Due to a stress fracture in her shin, which also saw her drop out of Wimbledon, Raducanu is unable to play in this year’s US Open.
However, Raducanu’s influence extends far beyond the sport that made her famous. Alongside her tennis career, she has developed a 2.9 million following on social media, become the face of several global brands (most recently Uniqlo) and graced the cover of multiple fashion magazines, including this one.
She’s also recently started dating someone
Who is Emma Raducanu’s boyfriend?
Emma Raducanu is in a new romantic relationship with PR expert John Friend. He attended the elite, private Harrow School in London and then joined the army as a paratrooper, before leaving to work in corporate communications. Friend is currently the director of his own PR firm, JSGF.
Earlier in June, he and Radacanu were spotted kissing in Battersea Park. Raducanu was asked about the pictures when she announced she was pulling out of Wimbledon and said, ‘I would say that, look, I have great people around me. I have amazing support from my team, from my family, from my friends. It means a lot. I think especially when you’re going through setbacks, it helps. I think just being around positive people, around positive influences, it’s always going to help through tough times.’
How did Emma Raducanu and her boyfriend meet?
While it has not been confirmed exactly how Raducanu and her new boyfriend met, it’s likely that they met through high society on the tennis scene. Friend’s father is a committee member at Queen’s Club, the venue where Raducanu recently reached the singles final, and they were first pictured together shortly after the tennis star’s defeat.
What is Emma Raducanu and her boyfriend’s age gap?
The couple have an age gap of nine years. Raducanu is 23 years old and Friend is 32.
What happened to Emma Raducanu’s boyfriend’s brother?
Tragically, Friend’s brother Will was struck by lightning on a boat trip with friends in North Carolina back in 2022. He died at the age of 33. His death made headlines not only because of the circumstances, but because Will had been married to Hollywood actress Bevin Price, who starred as Bevin Mirskey in One Tree Hill.
Friend also lost his mother Antoinette in 2018 to breast cancer. In 2024, Friend’s other older brother Tom died, also at the age of 33.
Who else has Emma Raducanu dated?
Romance hasn’t always been a big part of Radacanu’s life, with the athlete preferring to focus on her budding career. ‘My parents were very much against [boyfriends] as it interfered with training,’ Raducanu told The Times in 2024. ‘When I was younger, I wasn’t even allowed to hang out with my girlfriends. A lot of the time, I was very resentful. But it made me confident and comfortable in my own company, which is also a big strength.’
Still, she has previously been linked to billionaire heir Carlo Agostinelli, who she reportedly met in May 2023. They were pictured arm in arm at the Dior show during Paris Fashion Week that year (Agostinelli’s mother is a PR executive at Dior Couture and his father is a billionaire financier), but reportedly split in June 2024.
Last year, there were rumours that Raducanu might be dating fellow tennis champion Carlos Alcaraz, who was her mixed doubles partner at the US Open. However, in June she clarified that they were ‘just friends’. Alcaraz has also said ‘it can be difficult as a tennis player to meet the right person because you are travelling all the time’.
