Raducanu's Frequent Injuries Impacted By 'Emotional Stress' Says Murray's Ex-Coach
News
Emma Raducanu's injury history might have been impacted by emotional stress related to it, according to Andy Murray's former coach, Mark Petchey.
Since winning the 2021 US Open, the British player has struggled to stay healthy. She either dealt with some niggles or more significant injuries, but for a couple of years, it seemed like Raducanu was never healthy.
In 2024, she finally returned to the tennis courts at almost full capacity. It seemed that she would be able to complete the season without any disturbances, but then she was forced to miss the entire Asian swing because of an injury.
For some athletes, injuring and then re-injuring themselves can become a never-ending process. Coming back from an injury is like jumping on a moving train, as players need matches to build their confidence and rhythm back while everyone else is in full swing.
Because of that, it's nearly impossible for many tennis players to come back and immediately start winning. Also Raducanu had to build her way back, and it might have been also thanks to all of her previous injuries.
This was not the first and not the second time that she was coming back from an injury, and all of that had an impact on her, at least according to Andy Murray's ex-coach, Mark Petchey.
Petchey talked to Betway in a recent interview, suggesting that Raducanu's lack of match practice and the related emotional stress could impact her picking up further injuries.
"The lack of matches at the top level and the stress and the emotional stress will have a potential impact on her picking up injuries and I think that that's where the lessons are learned."
The 54-year-old former player turned analyst explained that being frequently injured increases the likelihood of another injury just because players are so much more eager to come back.
"The more times you're outside the arena and not playing in stressful situations, there is going to be a tendency to get more injured when you go back into those because you're going to push yourself harder."
At the same time, Petchey had a very positive prediction for Raducanu. He thinks that she will start competing for Grand Slams soon, and her first chance might come already at the 2025 Australian Open.
Currently ranked 57th in the world, Raducanu is relatively close to a seeding spot at majors, which would further boost her chances of doing well at Grand Slams.
"You can do all of those things in practice, but it's never quite the same as when you do matches and you're trying to compete for Grand Slam titles, which Emma will be doing in the not-too-distant future."
Still, Petchey once again stressed that there is a correlation between being injured and not playing enough matches. With this in mind, it's clear that Raducanu's main goal in 2025 might be staying healthy.
"There has to be a correlation between not playing enough matches and some of the injuries that she's unfortunately picked up."
