Emma Raducanu sets tongues wagging as Brit attends Carlos Alcaraz match at Wimbledon

Emma Raducanu further fuelled romance rumours by attending Carlos Alcaraz's Wimbledon win against Andrey Rublev on Sunday night. Broadcast images showed the 22-year-old enjoying the match alongside her coach Mark Petchey inside Centre Court.

Raducanu has repeatedly denied having a romantic relationship with reigning Wimbledon champion Alcaraz, laughing ahead of the tournament that "I'm glad the internet is having fun", and insisting they are simply "just good friends". However, social media users may not be entirely convinced by that after seeing the 2021 US Open champion at another Alcaraz match. Raducanu was not in attendance for fellow British star and good friend Sonay Kartal's defeat against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova earlier on Sunday.

In a glitzy US Open pairing, Raducanu will partner Alcaraz at the Flushing Meadows later this year in a revamped mixed doubles tournament. Speculation was intensified further when Raducanu was spotted at the Spaniard's Queen's final at the end of last month.

Fans were then intrigued by the duo seeming to share a practice session together ahead of Wimbledon. However, it was soon revealed that the meet-up took place to film shots for a shared sponsor.

Inside Centre Court, Raducanu appeared to be with the same friend with whom she was spotted at Queen's, where Alcaraz defeated Jiri Lehecka. "Without sounding like a gossip column but also totally sounding like one... 'we're just good friends', Emma Raducanu is on Centre Court watching Carlos Alcaraz," posted @tennisweeklypod on X.

@Gabadle joked: "Rublev looks so much healthier than before but as soon as I saw Raducanu in the crowd, I knew Alcaraz would be too powerful."

@ObsidianTotalus added: "Alcaraz and Raducanu are about to be the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce of tennis."

"This might be the most shippable of all ships ever," gushed @TheOtherMessi.

Raducanu produced some positive performances at Wimbledon and fell valiantly to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round. She was defeated 7-6 6-4 and lamented failing to close out the first set when she had broken the tournament favourite and bagged a set point.

It meant that she was able to cheer Alcaraz on to victory over Rublev. The 22-year-old came from a set behind to win 6-7 6-3 6-4 6-4. Some fans on X jokingly theorised that his performance improved after spotting Raducanu in the crowd.

Alcaraz said afterwards:"Andrey is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, player on tour. So aggressive on the ball. To face him is, he is pushing you to the limit in every ball. Makes it really difficult to face him, but really happy with the way I played today - intelligent, smart, tactically well against him, which I'm really proud about."