Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu says it has been difficult missing a series of Grand Slam events as she targets a return to the sport in 2024.
Raducanu hasn’t played a match since her first round loss to Jelena Ostpenko at the Stuttgart Grand Prix in April. Soon after that match, the Brit opted to undergo multiple surgeries to treat issues with her wrist and ankle. In total, she underwent procedures on both of her wrists and one of her ankles.
Since then, the 20-year-old has been rehabilitating and gradually getting back to training. At the start of August, she began hitting once again at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. However, she has now ruled out the prospect of returning to the Tour before this season ends.
“Next season I’ll be back,” Raducanu told BBC London on Wednesday.
“This season all the slams were finished so it was difficult to watch them go by but I was trying to stay in my lane as much as possible and keep focused on my recovery.”
Raducanu stunned the sport in 2021 by coming through three rounds of qualifying en route to winning the US Open title without dropping a set. In doing so, she became the first British woman to win a major title since 1977. However, Since her US Open triumph she is yet to reach another tournament final and has only featured in the semi-finals of a WTA event once which was at the 2022 Seoul Open where she retired from her match injured.
The Brit’s progress in the sport has been hampered by injury setbacks throughout the past two seasons. Furthermore, she has sought guidance from numerous coaches but has yet to find one for the long term. Within two years she has parted ways with five different coaches with the most recent of them being Sebastian Sachs in July.
“The fact they are still talking about me even though I’m not at these events is just a compliment,” Raducanu replied when asked how she deals with criticism. “Someone told me ‘worry when they are not talking about you’.”
Due to her injury-related absence, raducanu is currently ranked 214th in the WTA rankings.
