The world was at Emma Raducanu’s feet when she lifted the US Open in 2021 aged 21. This feat was remarkable since Raducanu had come through qualifying to etch a remarkable triumph. Three years later, in a poignant moment, she was fighting to hold back tears after suffering a first-round exit at the Flushing Meadows. The moment encapsulated the story of the British pro’s promising career that seems to have come to a grinding halt.

It has been almost 1116 days since she last won a major title. Frequent injuries and her form deserting her have been the main reasons behind her on-court troubles. She has gone from being touted as the next big thing in women’s tennis to fading away from the limelight as others have taken her spot. Seeing her struggles, many notable names in the tennis community such as Andy Roddick and Kim Clijsters have come forward with their opinions. The latest name to show concern for Raducanu is renowned strength and conditioning coach, Kieron Vorster.

Raducanu had to retire at the Korean Open from the quarterfinals on September 21, due to a foot injury, meaning she has played in only 13 events this year. Vorster, who has worked with the likes of former world No. 6 Tim Henman and Wayne Ferreira pointed out the reason behind Raducanu’s poor run saying, “She just doesn’t play enough matches.”

This season, despite being injury-free until Seoul, Raducanu has played the third least number of matches for players in the Top 100. She took a seven-week break from April to June, missing the French Open qualifying. Then she went on a four-week hiatus between Washington and the US Open.

In the exclusive chat with the Daily Mail, Vorster added, “I’ve seen her train and she trains hard, she works hard, there’s no doubting that. 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.” After her US Open exit, the Brit said she would plan to “manage my schedule differently.” But so far her reluctance to participate in as many events as she can undermines her to a great degree.

Kieron Vorster further added that he feels Emma Raducanu’s fairytale run at the 2021 US Open was something more like a curse in disguise to her than anything else. “It was an unbelievable achievement for her to win the US Open but sometimes I think that could have been the thorn in her side, a poisoned chalice because she went from hero to zero to hero and now she just doesn’t understand what it takes,” said Vorster.

The win at the US Open in 2021 was expected to kick start a career laden with Grand Slam success. However, since that win, she has been able to go past the second round of a Grand Slam only once- this year at the Wimbledon. A reason for Raducanu’s reduced schedule could be her injuries and how she rushed back to the court after surgeries, something she admitted in an interview last month with Marie Claire.

“I think the biggest lesson I’ve learnt in terms of injury recovery is not to rush back. My impatience is probably one of my biggest downfalls because I basically rushed the process of my recovery, and set myself back many months,” she said. Raducanu required surgery on both of her wrists and ankle in May 2023 and stayed away from action until this year, when she returned at the Nottingham Open in June.

Her reduced schedule at just 21, with reluctance to compete at the French Open, the Olympics seems baffling. Her defeat by Sofia Ken at the US Open this year was her first match in 25 days and she looked short of match practice. During the post-match press conference, she was trying hard to compose herself and said, “I feel down. I feel sad. Obviously this is a tournament I really want to do well in.”

She also expressed regret coming under-prepared for the Grand Slam, having played only one warm-up tournament, the Washington Open, in the build-up to the US Open. She said, “I would have preferred to probably play a little bit more coming into the US Open,” Raducanu said. “I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel good.” It seems like she understands what needs to be done. So what is stopping her? Well, according to Vorster she needs to surround herself with the right people.

“I think there could potentially be a lot of ‘yes‘ people around her, instead of people telling her what she doesn’t want to hear, ‘You know what, Emma, you need to get out there and play‘. She’s a good player. That’s not the issue. But this abbreviated schedule is just mind-blowing. There’s too many people around her,” he said. This sentiment was echoed by Kim Clijsters when she talked about Raducannu’s scheduling on an episode of Served with Andy Roddick, after the Brit’s early US Open exit.

Clijsters mentioned, “There’s two things that I think could be the reason… it’s either maybe not having the right people around you who kind of guide you and say, ‘Okay, this is important to you like the scheduling, building enough weeks off in between, like training blocks to improve, to mentally switch off.'”

The former Belgian WTA pro added, “Or is it her [Emma Raducanu]? Is there other things going on mentally where she’s kind of just had it with media, pressure… whatever it is. It’s only those two things that could be the cause.”

Well, Raducanu’s struggles are not secret, but Vorster has a solution for her problems as well.

Kieron Vorster urges Raducanu to learn from Andy Murray

Vorster’s advice to Raducanu at the moment was to take a leaf out of Andy Murray’s playbook and put in a brutal pre-season training camp. “The first thing I would do is take her somewhere hot with no distractions and do a six-week training block. 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,” he added.

Given how she felt after the US Open defeat, Raduncanu can do well to take her compatriot’s advice on board and revisit her training and scheduling methods. Let’s not forget, that she is only 21 and still has plenty of time to realize her potential if she can stay fit. With the right changes in mindset and perhaps personnel, we could yet see Raducanu add to her 2021 US Open success.