The weight of expectations and the many injuries have totally limited the career of Emma Raducanu, unable to repeat the extraordinary result at the American Slam. The British player had upset the women’s Tour with her early and imperious arrival, conquering the 2021 US Open at 18 as a complete unknown.
In recent weeks, culminating with the good performances at Wimbledon, Emma seems to have regained confidence, the one necessary to continue her comeback. The strong and beautiful British player will skip the Paris Olympics and return directly to the North American hard-court swing. A choice made to avoid risking new injuries with the double switch clay-grass-clay.
In an interview with Tennis Magazin, the 21-year-old British player spoke about the difficult period she went through and her expectations for the coming months. The British player has seen the nightmare of physical problems as an opportunity for personal growth, getting to know herself better.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned to feel good outside of tennis, where you always have to be healthy and hungry. That doesn’t necessarily happen in training and matches, where I have to keep the edge and the spark in my game, even though I was eager to get back to playing after the break. It can be exhausting to play week in and week out on tour, fulfilling all the obligations that come with being a professional tennis player. For me, the best solution is to do things my way, that’s what’s always worked for me,” Raducanu explained.
Raducanu then revealed her expectations for this second part of the season: “I have reassessed my goals for this year several times, I think my goals change a lot. My priority is to develop my game, which means I probably won’t play many tournaments this year. I don’t want to make up for lost time in 2023 by playing only tournaments, but to build a concrete and important base to be in good physical and game shape over the next few years.”
On the concept of success she had interesting and profound words, explaining how she had the opportunity to experience how time flies when you can’t train or play for a long time.
“The concept has changed for me, in the long run it means staying healthy. It’s about doing everything you can, not so much to train hard, but to train smart and not get injured. I’ve experienced how time flies when you can’t train or play for a long time. It’s not a fun situation. Success means I do everything I can to make sure I’m able to train and stay healthy. It’s a challenge, but I’m finding my way and learning new lessons. Learning how to handle certain situations, how to react to them. I have to learn all of that in the eyes of the crowd, so the learning comes after the results. For most young people, the learning comes first and then the results, but in my case it was the opposite with the US Open title, which I then had to learn from afterwards. In the end you look at it as a blessing, because most tennis players have to struggle financially at the beginning of their career, but thanks to that title I no longer had that problem. At my young age, I have experienced as much life as some 40-year-olds do, so I am very grateful and happy,” she told.
Emma also talked about the evolution of women’s tennis, analyzing how there are more and more players who can win every tournament.
“In the last three years, the depth of women’s tennis has increased enormously again. There are more and more players who can win every tournament, and the results prove it. Of course, there are some dominant players on the tour, but victory and defeat are always close. The level of many players depends on several factors, including their current form. I realized this myself at the 2021 US Open, where my form was fantastic for three weeks, allowing me to win one of the most important tournaments in the world. What has improved a lot are the defensive qualities of the players, which have improved a lot since I grew up in tennis. Every player is now an athlete and has better skills on the court,” she told.
