Earlier this month, Raducanu introduced that she can be sidelined for an prolonged interval after deciding to endure three surgical procedures. The British No 1 had been combating accidents to each wrists since final summer time and first had her proper hand operated on earlier than her ankle and left hand adopted.

Former world No 4 Henman has now revealed that he spoke “a lot” with the 20-year-old about her bodily woes earlier than she selected the operations. The retired Brit - who will probably be working for Eurosport through the upcoming French Open - defined that Raducanu had beforehand been compelled to play catch-up after a number of setbacks.

Sharing some perception from Raducanu’s docs, Henman instructed Express Sport: “I’ve spoken to her a lot about it and I think the message that she was getting from the surgeons was that she won’t make it worse, she won’t do more damage but it was about trying to manage the pain.” Raducanu ended her 2022 season early due to the accidents however powered by this 12 months, even reaching the last-16 in Indian Wells.

“But then I think it was definitely restricting how much practice she could do so then she’s not able to really make the improvements on the court,” Henman stated of her preliminary determination to play by the ache. “So I think that really added to her frustration because she wasn’t able to do herself justice.”

“So I think it’s great that she’s getting these operations done and she’ll be able to bounce back and be even better when she returns.” The former pro-turned-Eurosport pundit additionally defined how the wrists had been simply certainly one of many setbacks Raducanu had confronted since profitable the 2021 US Open as a qualifier.

“I think from her point of view since the US Open really she’s just been trying to play catch-up physically,” he stated. “And she hasn’t been able to gain that physical endurance, that resilience because it all happened so quickly and then when she’s had opportunities to train, she’s been unlucky as well.

The 11-time title winner explained how Raducanu would benefit from the surgeries, as he applauded the 20-year-old for doing it sooner rather than later. He continued: “And that is around physicality, that is getting her to be fitter, stronger, faster and therefore more resilient. So she can compete more without stop-starting, with little injuries that set her back.

“I’m very positive and optimistic, I think there’s a lot of good things that can come out of this and certainly, whether it’s both her wrists or her foot - you know, those were operations that needed doing so I think the sooner that you get on with them, the better, and then the sooner you can bounce back.”

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