After a disappointing 2023 season spent on the sidelines, 2024 saw a positive return for Emma Raducanu. The entirety of the 2023 season left fans yearning for her dazzling performances back from the US Open 2021. For Raducanu, it meant making sure she was ready for her comeback. Following the time spent in Brisbane and Melbourne, Emma Raducanu now prepares to mount a campaign for the WTA 1000 title in Abu Dhabi and makes her thoughts on her injuries plain.
Emma Raducanu gave an extensive interview on the real depth of her injuries from 2023, giving fans a real peek behind the curtain. Her revelations might just mean there was more to the injuries than she let on.
Did Emma Raducanu keep fans in the dark about more injuries?
Ahead of her match at WTA Abu Dhabi, Emma Raducanu spoke extensively about her time spent recovering from injuries. While fans certainly missed her, it seems her journey of getting better was tougher than she initially let on.
“I’ve never really had the chance to do proper training weeks back-to-back. For six or seven months, before I ended up having the surgeries, I was only practicing one or two hours a day just to limit the load on the wrists,” she said in an interview with The National News. The real trouble for Raducanu, it seems, was not just staying away from the sport she loves.
It was also to limit the kind of work that she could put into her game, especially since her wrists had been the root cause of the injury. Moreover, these comments might be indicative of underlying injury problems for the Brit, ones that plagued her even before she ventured towards the option of surgery. Not to mention, some struggles with sickness also appeared during her time in Australia.
Renewed Raducanu stands firm on making 2024 a positive season
Despite the numerous injuries Raducanu fought through, the ones on her wrist or even not being able to walk without crutches for a period of time, the Brit remains determined to step back onto the court. The first part of this was evident in her exploits in the land down under.
While she started off her campaign with two exits in the ASB Classic and the Australian Open, Emma Raducanu already shows positive signs when it comes to performances after injuries. While she may not have gone deep into tournaments, she surely looks on track to gain her old form back.
With the WTA 1000, the tennis world has a real chance to see what Raducanu can do when she is not limited by injuries. It will be interesting to see whether her performances change, and just how much did the injuries slow her down from the path to success.
