Renowned physical trainer Kieron Vorster has asserted that Emma Raducanu “just doesn’t play enough matches” after her latest injury setback.
Vorster has been a strength and conditioning coach for a host of professional players, including Tim Henman, Wayne Ferreira, Dan Evans and Sorana Cirstea.
Raducanu was forced to retire after losing the first set of her quarter-final match with Daria Kasatkina at the Seoul Open in her most recent tournament.
The 21-year-old revealed she had sprained ligaments in her foot in Seoul and pulled out of the China Open in Beijing.
The world No 54 has not indicated how long she expects to be out of action, but expressed her hope “to be back competing as soon as I can.”
Raducanu has been hampered by injuries since her stunning triumph at the 2021 US Open and saw her 2023 campaign cut short after undergoing surgeries on both her wrists and her ankle in May last year.
Vorster identified Raducanu’s light schedule as the reason for her physical issues as he explained that the Brit’s intensity in training is not a problem.
“She just doesn’t play enough matches. I’ve seen her train and she trains hard, she works hard, there’s no doubting that,” he told Mail Online.
“But you can train as hard as you like — if you don’t have that match fitness, your body is not hardened and robust enough to play match after match after match.
“You can practise until you’re blue in the face but you can’t replicate match conditions, that intensity and nerves when you’re 4-4 in the third serving at 0-30.
“She plays an abbreviated clay court season, because she’s got a long grass court season and hard court season coming up and she doesn’t want to be burnt out or get injured.
‘Then she was hurt against Lulu Sun in the round of 16 at Wimbledon, then plays one hard court event, goes to the US Open undercooked and loses first round.
“Now she’s pulled out of Asia, is that going to be all of a sudden, ‘I’m taking it off till the end of the year, so I get ready for Australia,’ and then the cycle starts again.”
Vorster also outlined the approach he would take if he were Raducanu’s trainer and pointed to the example of British legend Andy Murray.
“The first thing I would do is take her somewhere hot with no distractions and do a six-week training block,” Vorster added. “Take away home comforts and luxuries. Do something different that will kick-start the year.
“You’ve only got to look at Andy Murray for somebody who made all the sacrifices year after year: train in the heat in Miami, come back for one, maybe two days for Christmas, then he’d be off again to Australia.”
