Emma Raducanu’s Major Roadblock to Comeback Identified as WTA Pro Offers Insight Into the Hidden Challenges She Faces

“…I don’t really have anything to lose,” Emma Raducanu said of her upcoming QFs match against Daria Kasatkina, after breezing past Yue Yuan in R16 at the Korea Open in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. This victory turned out to be more impressive as Yuan(No. 40) is ranked 30 places higher than Raducanu in the WTA rankings. As Raducanu prepares to face the top seed Kasatkina on Saturday, French professional came up with a unique verdict, dissecting the flaws in the 21-year-old’s game.

On September 21, French tennis player and presenter Alize Lim sat for a Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast to discuss several interesting stories in the world of tennis. This included Emma Raducanu’s last night’s “pretty tough match….Two very physical sets”. Little did Raducanu know, a medical timeout waited for her.

Raducanu, 21, dominated the match, winning six consecutive games to clinch the first set. After taking a medical timeout, she established control in the second. The 2021 US Open champion, currently ranked 70th, converted her seventh match point to secure a victory, surviving the injury scare. Is this a sign for her “build up”?

While in the discussion, Lim said that Raducanu, “knows she has the level if she’s been there, I mean once or I mean many times during that tournament. She knows, she knows she can do it again. But unfortunately, she’s been struggling with other factors, injuries, a lot. So if she can get, I mean, back to back weeks and matches, and for sure, she’ll build up again.”

Raducanu herself spoke about her difficult journey with injuries over the past year. “It was pretty surreal because I couldn’t be on crutches because I’d had two wrist surgeries, so I had a cast on one hand, a splint on the other and my ankle was also pretty much immobilised.” Besides injury as a gripping factor for unlocking her full potential, a former pro saw another major loophole.

“Not having the right people…” Kim Clijsters highlights a major flaw in Emma Raducanu’s team

Prior to the tournament, Raducanu chose to skip key events like the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open after being denied wildcards for both competitions. She also declined the opportunity to participate in the qualifying rounds for Cincinnati, preferring instead to focus on training ahead of her return to New York.

Although her road to the US Open main draw was clear, the Briton still couldn’t cause wonders, facing an unexpected exit in the opening round against Sofia Kenin. Clijsters, reflecting on these issues, gave her perspective on what might be behind Raducanu’s choices as she appeared a guest in an episode of the Served With Andy Roddick podcast.

“There’s two things that I think could be the reason,” Clijsters said. She suggested it could either be a lack of proper guidance from Raducanu’s team, explaining, “maybe not having the right people around you who kind of guide you and say, ‘Okay, this is important to you’.” Scheduling and taking necessary breaks to recover physically and mentally are important decisions for a player and that could be an affected area in the Briton’s case.

Clijsters also thinks it could be Raducanu herself feeling overwhelmed by external factors. “Is there other things going on mentally where she’s kind of just had it with media, pressure… whatever it is,” Clijsters added. The 21-year-old is finally showing signs of rapid rise. As Raducanu looks forward to her upcoming match in Seoul, only results would decide her fate.