“This is going to be a difficult part of the year” Former British tennis Pro fears for Emma Raducanu’s upcoming season after recurring defeats
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Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu‘s life on the Tour since she won the 2021 US Open has not been great with the Brit currently on a 3-6 record since her historic win in New York. She has reached the quarter-finals of any competition since then only once which included a first-round bye as well when she made the run at the 2021 Transylvania Open.
With many expecting her to start the 2022 season on a good note, the Brit returned to her first full season having just recovered from a bout with the Covid-19 virus during the final week of December. She lost in her season opener in Sydney and despite winning on her Australian Open debut, she lost in the second round.
She returned to action in Guadalajara but was forced to retire after playing in the longest WTA match of the season against Daria Saville. Emma had her hip injured during the second set and despite receiving treatment before the 3rd set she could not complete the match and it resulted in her 3rd defeat in 4 matches in the season.
“She needs consistency around her to put in the hard yards and improve as a player. There’s so much there in terms of her tennis, but there are certain things along the way that are going to affect you because your life is going to change and she’s in demand. Right now, anything that’s happening on the match court for me is something that I don’t get worried about. It’s elsewhere.
“Is she putting in the hard practice sessions? Is she focused? Has she got her mind on tennis? At the moment, I’m not worried about it. This is going to be a difficult part of the year for Emma because of Indian Wells, Miami and then the clay where she’s incredibly inexperienced but just because she loses a match, it’s not the end of the world.
“If she feels the pressure is building then unfortunately that only tends to go one way and then you panic a bit and if she makes another coaching change because she’s lost another couple of matches, it’s short-term. She needs long-term planning which is something I hope will happen,” said Sky Sports analyst and former British tennis pro Barry Cowan.
Barry Cowan believes Emma Raducanu can still win more Grand Slams
Cowan also emphasised the point that Emma made too many changes around her coaching team having replaced her coach who helped her win the US Open. She is currently coached by Torben Beltz, former coach of World No. 1 Angelique Kerber.
“If she has three coaches in a year and she’s constantly changing things, searching for the US Open level, then I think her confidence can erode quickly. I did see her as a multiple Grand Slam winner when she won the US Open, so why should I change my mind six months later. We all have to make sure we’re not knee-jerk in our reactions just because Emma loses a match there is still so much tennis ahead of her.
“Across the sport, if you take your eye off the ball, whoever you are, things can go wrong very quickly. You’ve got to be consistent in what you’re doing and have a consistent team around you,” added Cowan speaking with Sky about Raducanu who is already a big star in Britain.
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Sarthak Shitole
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