Emma Raducanu recently announced that she will sit out the French Open to focus on the upcoming grass and hard court seasons. Having been overlooked for a wildcard, Raducanu was entered in the tournament using her protected ranking of 103, but remained 3 spots out of the main draw, necessitating she go down the qualifying path. Once it became clear she wasn’t going to gain direct entry to the main draw, the 2021 US Champion withdrew from the event.
“It’s important for me to keep laying on the foundations, and I will use the time to do a healthy block before the grass and subsequent hard-court seasons to give myself a chance to keep fit for the rest of the year,” she said.
The question to be asked is…. was this a good decision, bad decision, or just an odd decision?
Tennis fans know the back story of the 21-year-old. At age 18, Emma was granted a Wildcard into the 2021 Wimbledon tournament, and immediately made a stunning impression, reaching the 4th round without dropping a set, before having to retire against Ajla Tomljanovic after her body just couldn’t go any further.
A mere 2 months later, Raducanu was holding the US Open trophy aloft, having done what no-one else in the sport had ever done before… going on a 10 match, 20 set run, from qualifying, all the way through to champion. At just 18, she was the next big thing. In fact, she was already a big thing. Emma had arrived….and far earlier than expected.
But a series of injuries soon plagued her, effectively derailing the next couple of seasons. In 2023, Raducanu has surgery on both wrists, and one ankle, rendering her year finished before it really began.
She spoke at the start of the year about just how tough it was for her.
“I had a scooter to move around. I couldn’t like, text, anything. The feeling of not being able to move your body, like walk to the kitchen to get a snack for example, I couldn’t do it. And you miss it. You really don’t realise until you go through it yourself….Be grateful, appreciate being healthy”
But 2024 has seen her make some progress. She started the year in Auckland, winning her comeback match, then moving through to round 2 at the Australian Open, and defeating top 40 player, Maria Bouzkova in Abu Dhabi. From there, it was the third round of Indian Wells, before defeating two top 50 players, in Diane Parry at the Billie Jean King Cup, and Linda Noskova the week after, at Stuttgart. Emma then pushed world number 1, Iga Swiatek to two close sets in the quarter finals of Stuttgart, leading many of her fans to believe she was primed for a run towards the French Open.
However, a swift reality check arrived, with a shock first round loss to world number 82, Maria Lourdes in Madrid. That tough defeat was the last time we’ve seen her on court. Following that loss, Raducanu reflected on the previous few weeks.
“I would say the last few weeks have been a lot… Starting from Billie Jean King Cup, I haven’t stopped. It’s just been back-to-back and I was very happy being able to help carry the team in BJK Cup, and then straight to Stuttgart with no rest, and then straight here and trying to adapt to the conditions which are very different, because it’s outdoors and I was playing indoors for the last month. Many factors that have made it very difficult to fully compete today, but overall, I’ve been playing pretty well.”
“I think I’m going to just take a few days off and rest a little bit, because I’ve been going non-stop for the last month.”
Unfortunately, those few days rest, have turned into a few weeks off the match court, and it will likely be a few more before we potentially see her on the grass courts.
If there is an apprehension right now, it has to be around her body. Emma rarely gives too much away, but it’s clear she just can’t put long stretches of matches in at the moment. During the Australian Open, I asked her if she was at the stage where she no longer thinks about her wrists when she plays, or whether she still worries about them.
“No, it’s amazing to be pain free with the wrists. I honestly didn’t know if I would get to this stage. It’s just amazing to be playing pain-free. I had pain for so long…It was difficult because I wasn’t able to practice. Then having to go and play and compete against the best in the world, with an hour a day, while not playing for two weeks trying to settle the pain down, is very difficult”
I went on to ask her if she planned on building in any breaks within her schedule throughout the year, and her response was full of positivity.
“I don’t have any fear or any restrictions on anything. I’ve passed all the return-to-play markers. My grip strength is higher than ever. Hopefully I’ll be in good shape”.
So evidently, Emma was feeling good, and looking at playing a full schedule in 2024, but it seems her plans may have altered. However, it’s not necessarily cause for concern in the long-term. Having been forced into 12 to 18 months without consistency in her practice (not to mention lack of match practice), is obviously a far larger hurdle to overcome than first assumed.
Her comments after Madrid, signifying she was cooked after a month of tennis, would certainly suggest she’s lacking match fitness. And she is. One of the more startling stats, which is often overlooked when assessing her career so far, is her genuine lack of experience in her career.
Amongst the top 100, only Mirra Andreeva, aged just 17, has played less WTA matches than Raducanu. Her body just isn’t match-hardened, and building these breaks into her season may not have been on the schedule at the start of the year, but it appears like something she now understands is important for her longevity in the sport.
As good as Emma looked in the few matches she played on clay, her team has clearly decided that playing qualifying at Roland Garros just wasn’t as beneficial for her, as doing a solid block of training. While I believe she could use some matches, I understand the thought process. If she doesn’t feel her body can hold up for 10 matches at Roland Garros, it’s better to skip it. After all, if anyone knows what it takes to win ten matches in a row at a Slam, it’s Emma.
It would have been interesting to see if her decision would’ve been different, if she was granted a wildcard, or received direct entry. I believe she would’ve played. But the fact that she has decided to withdraw, doesn’t mean she feels ‘above’ qualifying (regardless of what the keyboard warriors think). It may simply mean, grinding three extra matches before she even begins her French open campaign, is a bridge too far at the moment.
Right now, the last thing Emma needs to do is grind out matches for the sake of it. Remember, she’s 21 years old. The next few weeks are somewhat insignificant when looking ahead to the next decade of her career.
The other point she made during the Australian Open, was that her number one priority wasn’t to be winning titles.
“Success to me in the long-term is, for the rest of the year, to play a full season, to be healthy throughout, to be able to train consistent weeks”.
“But I think, regardless of how good I may feel on the court on a particular day, or in practice, I think to get to that level of consistency is going to require more time”.
Emma may not be able to play a full season, as she (and her legion of fans) hoped. But I don’t think even she believed deep down, that she would be able to slip straight back on to the tour without a hiccup. The fact that she has made the decision to bypass the rest of the clay court season shows she is prioritizing her long-term health. Proof enough that her decision to withdraw was the right one.
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