“However long that takes” Emma Raducanu skeptical of her return after another injury withdrawal
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Emma Raducanu
World No. 12 Emma Raducanu had another poor outing as she was forced to retire mid-match during her first round match to Bianca Andreescu in the ongoing 2022 Italian Open. Emma was trailing the 2019 US Open champion 2-6, 1-2 when she had to throw in the towel and make her second mid-match retirement of the season.
Emma had expressed her doubts on playing in the Italian Open after she had forced herself in her third round defeat at the 2022 Madrid Open last week after which she revealed she had back problems. The Brit however turned up in Rome and was ready to challenge for the title but it could not materialise as she was unable to complete her first round match.
“I think the last few weeks have been really positive. I’ve learned a lot about myself and my game has definitely improved on this surface. But for sure I need to make sure my back is fully right, however long that takes. I need to just keep on it. I don’t want to play my next match with a feeling of limitation because I think that I learned my lesson from this week, when to push, and when not to push. Probably today wasn’t right.
“I thought that maybe taking one, two days off, it would just go away because a lot of the other small niggles I’ve had, they’ve kind of gone away after taking, like, two days off. Then I got here and I was training, but it just didn’t seem to get better. I was training with some limitations. I wasn’t moving really, I was just playing where I knew where the ball was coming, just staying in one corner,” said Emma in comments reported by Eurosport.
“I never really knew how bad it was” Emma Raducanu on her back injury
Emma has been struggling with injuries throughout the season and the injury in Rome has taught the young Brit lessons on how to take care of the body when she is regularly playing in Tour events. With this being Emma’s first full season on the Tour, she is slowly understanding managing the workload in order to remain fresh and fit.
“I think I must have underestimated the unpredictability of competition in a match, you have to react… Bianca is a great player. She’s not going to let up and just hit the ball to you. I never really knew how bad it was until I kind of went out there. I’m still learning when it’s right to push my body and push through it, and when’s not. I guess that’s something I’m kind of learning at these tournaments. The difference is I’m probably doing it at bigger tournaments, not smaller tournaments on the way up,” concluded the 2021 US Open champ.
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Sarthak Shitole
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