Emma Raducanu faces two large challenges after Brit misses US Open – EXCLUSIVE

Aug 21, 2023 at 4:12 PM
Emma Raducanu faces two large challenges after Brit misses US Open – EXCLUSIVE

Emma Raducanu has been instructed that she should construct herself up from scratch as she prepares to return to tennis following three surgical procedures. Former British No 1 Johanna Konta additionally instructed Express Sport that the 20-year-old might want to reset as she continues her restoration. It comes as Raducanu will miss the US Open, the place she gained the title as a qualifier two years in the past.

Raducanu made historical past in Flushing Meadows again in 2021, turning into the primary participant ever to return via qualifying and carry a Grand Slam title. But the Brit noticed blended outcomes after her unprecedented victory and has been sidelined for the final 4 months after present process two wrist surgical procedures and one ankle operation.

While the previous world No 10 has lastly returned to the apply court docket, she gained’t be prepared for the US Open. And Konta believes the surgical procedures provide Raducanu a novel probability to rebrand herself, moderately than to “come back”. 

Discussing Raducanu’s post-surgery return, the previous world No 4 instructed Express Sport that she needed to reset each bodily and mentally. “I think right now it’s definitely going to be baby steps more than anything because physically she needs to rebuild and not just rebuild, but build her base,” Konta defined.

“Because obviously what happened two years ago at the US Open was an incredible feat and she played very well, she really achieved something that was so unpredictable and unexpected.”

Raducanu’s US Open triumph got here in simply her fourth-ever skilled event and Konta thought that it possible propelled the 20-year-old to a spot she hadn’t been capable of familiarize yourself with. The 32-year-old continued: “And I think what was found after was physically, emotionally and mentally she was playing catch-up with the success she achieved that maybe she wasn’t as prepared for.

“So I don’t think it’s necessarily a comeback, I think now more than anything she is going to come, she is going to build. It’s not about coming back to anything because she had those two weeks and then it was actually really hard. It was really messy and hard for her.”

A four-time title winner, Konta appeared optimistic that Raducanu might use her post-surgery restoration as the inspiration for a stable profession in the long run. “So I think more than anything it’s about now building her career, not rebuilding,” she added.

“She is now in a position where she can just build out her physicality, her emotional, mental side that comes along with that and I think we’ll see now hopefully a really good, solid career from her.”

The US Open returns solely to Sky Sports and NOW with feeds to all courts from twenty eighth August.