Emma Raducanu will benefit more from skipping the Olympics than actually attending it? Here’s how?

Adapting to the red dirt will be hard for her given that Raducanu underwent three surgeries last year.

Emma Raducanu will benefit more from skipping the Olympics than actually attending it? Here’s how?

Emma Raducanu (Image via Imago)

Skipping the Paris Olympics may end up benefitting Emma Raducanu. The WTA tennis star will have enough opportunities to participate in the next few Olympic Games because she is just 21. 

The tennis matches of the 2024 Olympics will be played on the Roland Garros clay courts, and it’s going to trouble the players who will arrive in Paris after the Wimbledon Championships. The tennis matches in Paris will start on July 27, two weeks after the conclusion of the season’s third Grand Slam event at AELTC.

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Adapting to the red dirt will be hard for them and given that Raducanu underwent three surgeries last year, she thought it’s best to focus on the grass court and then adapt herself on the hard court for the US Open, which she won as a qualifier in 2021. 

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Everyone's aware of her history and the double wrist surgery from last year. That [change of surface] places greater stress on her.
LTA’s head of women’s tennis Iain Bates said in a statement

Instead of the Olympics, which doesn’t improve a player’s rankings, if Raducanu chooses to play the Mubadala Citi DC Open, a WTA 500 event in Washington, it will only boost her rankings. The main draws of the Washington Open will start on July 29, two days after the start of the tennis matches in the Olympics.

Emma Raducanu offered Olympics wild card but she rejected

Emma Raducanu is currently World No. 209, and so she did not qualify directly for the Olympics. Then reports emerged that she turned down the wild card because of the multiple surface changes. Iain Bates, however, revealed how Raducanu was eager to represent Team GB, but due to different surfaces, she had to make a hard decision. 

Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu (Image via Imago) 
You always want a bigger team for the Olympics because it is such a cool event, but she is 21 and, hopefully, she has many Olympics in her. From the Olympic team side or the head of the women's tennis side, I'm very comfortable with the decision that she's made.
Iain Bates said 

Raducanu recently played the Nottingham Open and made it to the semifinals where her compatriot Katie Boulter defeated her in three sets 6-7(13-15), 6-3, 6-4. Her focus is now to improve her game for the Wimbledon Championships, where she did her best in 2021 by advancing to the fourth round. Raducanu is still searching for her second title of her career since that 2021 US Open victory. 

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