Last week, I wrote of Emma Raducanu’s potent – and lucrative – mix of youth, talent and beauty. Just a day later she was forced to retire from Wimbledon with breathing difficulties.
The general conclusion – still unconfirmed – is that she suffered a panic attack on court and, if so, she has my deepest sympathies.
The only positive for the poor girl is that at least panic attacks are a recognised phenomenon now. That wasn’t always so. When I experienced my first one back in the late 1970s, they were almost unknown. Certainly no one I knew had ever heard of them.