Emma Raducanu told to take the example of Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep to produce better results next season by Mats Wilander
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Novak Djokovic, Simona Halep, Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu has been the talk of the tennis world ever since last year’s Wimbledon. The Briton burst on the scene with a 4th round run in the 2021 Wimbledon followed by the title at the 2021 US Open. Things have however been downhill for the teenager ever since.
The 2022 season, her first full season on the Tour, did not yield any title for her with only 1 semi-final appearance throughout the season. In Grand Slams, she failed to go past the second round at any of the four events. While injuries also affected her, success remained aloof for her, and Mats Wilander has chipped in with some valuable advice.
Speaking on Eurosport, Wilander said Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep are the blueprint at the moment that Raducanu needs to follow. With a poor record this season, Raducanu’s withdrawal from the BJK Cup Finals brought an anti-climatic end to her season.
“For Emma Raducanu I think that you have to look obviously at other players. She might have to look at someone like Simona Halep in terms of the style, and the style of Simona Halep when she was at her best was to not make mistakes. Don’t make mistakes, because athletically Emma Raducanu is an unbelievable athlete.
“So for Emma Raducanu, it’s a matter of finding her individuality on a tennis court. What am I trying to achieve? What am I good at? What do I need to stay away from in terms of weaknesses?’ And I think you have to look at Simona Halep, you have to look at Novak Djokovic on the men’s side, and then try to sort of copy what they’re doing,” said Wilander.
Mats Wilander compares Emma Raducanu to Iga Swiatek and Serena Williams
While Wilander presented Raducanu with advice on building her game taking help from Djokovic and Halep, the 7-time major winner praised the Briton nevertheless. The 19-year-old’s athleticism was spoken highly of by the Swede during his interview showing some much-needed support to Raducanu.
“She can move with the best of them, she seems very flexible, she anticipates the play ahead of time so she’s got all these physical attributes that you need to have to be a great tennis player. Now, technically she hits the ball well off of both sides.
“She doesn’t have that killer weapon like an Iga Swiatek forehand and sometimes when you do have a weapon like the Iga Swiatek forehand, it simplifies tennis a little bit. Serena Williams of course with a big serve, again it just simplifies the day-to-day way to play matches,” said Wilander further.
Raducanu has enough time on her hand to sort out her next season. One big matter of concern however remains the coaching situation for the 19-year-old as she continues looking for a full-time coach. The next few weeks will be crucial for her as she needs to finalize a coach and also recover from injuries to be fresh and prepared for the next season.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)