Emma Raducanu has approached her most recent comeback with great patience, which comes from her learning that her impatience cost her a lot early on in her career.
Raducanu is one of the most polarizing names in tennis, not only because she was the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam. That US Open triumph three years ago was one of the most improbable tennis events, and it catapulted the Brit into a position she wasn't ready for.
Lots of people expected her to continue winning like that, but most people with tennis knowledge cautioned against those expectations. Raducanu's tennis was never the problem people thought it would be, but her body was.
She wasn't ready for the challenge of playing weekly, and her body broke down. She had several comeback attempts that went nowhere until finally last year when she opted to undergo triple surgery to address the issues and take a conservative approach to her recovery, taking much of the year off.
She returned this year and has been playing well but hasn't played too much. The Brit admitted that she has been taking it day by day and not pushing herself too much because that's what she did in the past, and it was a huge mistake.
She wasn't as patient as she is this year, which highlights her growth as a player. Skipping the Olympics was exactly that in practice, as she didn't want to push herself too much to play when she would have chances to do so in the coming years.
"I think the biggest lesson I’ve learnt in terms of injury recovery is not to rush back. My impatience is probably one of my biggest downfalls because I basically rushed the process of my recovery, and set myself back many months."
"Instead of taking me four months to return to play, it took me eight, and it took me seven months without hitting balls, when I should have been hitting balls after a month and a half."
Raducanu has had her fair share of bizarre moments in her tennis career, but she seems to be getting the hang of it slowly. She's much smarter about arranging her schedule.
She's also been pretty good at handling the pressure and just being much smarter about the way she does things. Not all credit goes to her, though. She was adamant to admit that she has got a team now that is careful.
Athletes are athletes because they are inclined to push boundaries, but that doesn't always work out well. She knows that pretty well.
"So I think having people who are really strict with you in coming back from injury is important. People who are literally counting every shot that you hit, and making it really scientific not just on feeling, because sometimes your mind overtakes your body, and by pushing more you’re actually setting yourself back."
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