Emma Raducanu: I am ready to commit to improving my fitness
14 November 2024 4:54pm GMT
Emma Raducanu insists she is now ready to “commit” to her fitness after spending five weeks away from tennis because of injury, connecting with family and rediscovering former hobbies.
Following a respectable season in which Raducanu lifted her ranking from No 301 on January 1 to No 58, she will return to court for the Billie Jean King Cup in Malaga where she will be part of Team Great Britain.
Her season has been plagued with injuries, most recently sprained foot ligaments that forced her to abandon plans for a four-tournament stint in Asia, as she was able to compete in only one.
Telegraph Sport revealed Raducanu, who turned 22 on Wednesday, had been in discussions with Maria Sharapova’s former fitness trainer Yukata Nakamura, which was then confirmed by the former US Open winner.
Despite being previously unwilling to expand her notoriously small and close-knit team, it is something she has considered to improve her longevity on court.
‘My goal next year is to stay on court longer’
“I think my goal next year is to stay on court longer. This year I came in the top 60 in the world, but I barely played, I think, less than 15 events,” Raducanu said.
“So, I know if I am on court and healthy and competing I can go even higher and further.
“I think that my athleticism is a strength of mine, but it’s nowhere near its full potential.
“I’m just looking forward to explore that further, and yeah, ready to commit to doing that.”
Much of Raducanu’s time in 2024 was spent away from the court, with injuries affecting her build-up to the US Open, and the Asia season. But interspersed with that forced time away from the sport, she chose not to play in the Olympics, or take part in qualification for Roland Garros, and has played only three tournaments since Wimbledon.
But that time off has been valuable, according to Raducanu, who insists she is ready to compete and “feels good” about her game ahead of the first Billie Jean King Cup finals Great Britain have qualified for since the tournament on home soil in 2022.
‘I spent some time in China to see my grandma’
“In the meantime, with the time off, I was just trying to develop myself in other ways and doing other hobbies,” she explained. “I spent some time in China to see my grandma.”
She added: “In my time off, I did a lot of reading, picked the piano back up. I feel like whenever I’m with my grandma over there, it’s a bit of a retreat for me and very far and opposite from what I usually do.
“I was very grateful for that opportunity, because I don’t get to see her very often.
“I came back in quite a peaceful and zen mindset.”
The build-up to the Billie Jean King Cup, however, has been anything but calm. The red alert for rain was lifted only at 8am on Thursday, while Raducanu had to spend her 22nd birthday inside the hotel with team-mates as the rain fell, causing floods around the city. The river near the venue in Malaga burst its banks, spilling over onto the airport runway and streets in the city turned into rivers.