Emma Raducanu's future looks a bit uncertain with two surgeries already behing her, leaving her without a clear date of return to the tennis courts.
Those two surgeries were surgeries she wasn't very keen on having but ultimately it proved the smartest thing to do long-time. She'll do another surgery a bit later to properly fix all of the physical issues that plagued her in recent weeks and then start a pretty important recovery period.
It's unclear when she'll be ready to compete but for her, it's most important to focus on getting properly fit because in essence time is on her side. Former British No. 1 Johanna Konta spoke to Skysports and noted that Raducanu looked in good spirits which is important.
Overall, I can imagine that this surgery wasn’t a surprise for Emma. She’s probably had enough time to work up her feelings and go through everything in her head so now it’s going to be the big recovery process. I don’t think it would have been a shock to her which is why she seems in decent spirits.
Being relatively young makes it a bit easier and that's a good thing. She can take her time because there is plenty of time. Rushing through the recovery process would be more damaging than simply taking her time, even if she would miss the rest of the year. Konta thinks that this could be a blessing in disguise for Raducanu.
I don’t think her age is a worry. Because she is 20, she’s got a long time because she’s at the early stages of her career. She’s going to have enough time to keep building up her body, keep building up her strength. Obviously, you don’t want to be young and having surgery. However, there have been a lot of athletes throughout history that have had surgery young and they still come back stronger, come back better and do brilliant things in the sport. It is a hurdle, but one that she is well equipped to overcome and she has time on her side.
When asked how she expects the process to go, Konta dropped an interesting prediction. She thinks Raducanu might return at the US Open if everything goes well because she will want to play as soon as she can.
I think she will want to get back on court as soon as she can and if she can come back for the US Open, she will. Whether her body will allow that and whether her rehab course will allow that, I think that will remain to be seen. I think as a player you want to come back as soon as possible. You want to put in the work to be able to be back on tour, playing tournaments. That’s where you want to be so I don’t think she will be taking any extra time out just for the sake of it.
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