Emma Raducanu has not won any tennis titles in a long time, but she was recently recognized for her efforts during the 2024 grass-court swing in the UK.
After two forgettable years in which she faced challenges with her form and fitness, Raducanu has shown signs of a resurgence this season, most notably on grass, where she impressed and compiled a 7-3 record.
The 21-year-old began preparation for the grass-court swing as early as May after shocking by her decision not to play in the Roland Garros qualifying tournament. She was not given a main draw wild card at the clay-court major and did not travel to Paris.
Instead, Raducanu worked on the lawns to get in the best possible shape for Wimbledon. She played her first tuneup in the second week of June in Nottingham, where she reached the semi-final but lost to eventual champion and fellow Brit Katie Boulter.
The following week, Raducanu defeated former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the first round of Eastbourne before stunning Jessica Pegula by saving a match point for her maiden Top 10 win of her young career.
Again, she lost to the eventual tournament champion, Daria Kasatkina, in the quarterfinal. Playing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2022, the British tennis star was keen to showcase how much she had improved in two years and got the luck of the draw in her opening match.
Her scheduled first-round opponent, Ekaterina Alexandova, pulled out because of illness, and Raducanu would play Mexican lucky loser Renata Zarazua. Despite succumbing to a few jittery moments, she picked up a priceless win to kick off her campaign.
Wins over Elise Mertens and World No. 8 Maria Sakkari (second Top 10 victory) followed as she reached the second week of the tournament. In the end, there was no fairytale run to the one she experienced at the 2021 US Open.
She lost to New Zealand qualifier Lulu Sun in the round of 16. Still, her decent showings on grass earned her the July Female Player of the Month, which was announced by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), the national governing body of tennis in the United Kingdom.
"Your Female Player of the Month for July is @EmmaRaducanu - Reached the fourth round at @Wimbledon - Beat world No.33 Elise Mertens & world No.9 Maria Sakkari along the way - Broke back into the @WTA top 100 Voted on exclusively by Advantage members."
Having started the season outside the Top 300 because of her injury hiatus in the second half of 2023, Raducanu's Wimbledon run boosted her ranking significantly and returned to the world's Top 100.
And after skipping the Olympic Games to prioritize the summer hard-court swing in the United States, Raducanu has climbed into the Top 80 after reaching the quarterfinals of the Citi Open in Washington, where she lost to Paula Badosa.
She still has a long way to go to reach the upper tier and not rely on wild cards in high-profile tournaments where her current ranking is not sufficient for a main draw spot.
But Raducanu will be buoyed by the positive effect her changed fitness regime, which has curbed injury issues, has had on her performance levels.
0 Comments