Emma Raducanu is playing at the 2024 Korea Open, and the British player is glad to be in Asia after missing the chance to play there last year.
Raducanu has roots in Asia through her mother, who is Chinese, and she has lots of fans in that part of the world because of that. She remembers being little and visiting family in China and how much she loves that part of her identity.
She's a fluent Chinese speaker and couldn't wait to finally play tennis in the country. After missing that opportunity in the past due to the pandemic and other factors, Raducanu will finally have a chance to do so this year.
Her Asian swing started at the Korea Open, but she will move on to the events in China fairly quickly, and she can't wait.
"I always knew there was a really long block in Asia at the end of the year and I didn't want to overdo myself in the first half of the year. If you look at the tournaments I played it was relatively light. I skipped quite a few weeks over the clay knowing that I'm at the stage where I'm not trying to win every event on the clay, on the grass and hard."
She always hoped to play in Asia, which is part of why she didn't push herself too much in the first part of the year. She knew that a significant part of the season would be happening in Asia, and she's now excited to experience it.
"I have to prioritize and Asia was one of those for me. So I stacked the year on the backend heavy, because I'm excited. I thrive in Asia. It's where I truly feel like home. So I'm buzzing for that trip even though it's at the end of the year. I'm looking forward to going out there and trying to take it."
Raducanu started her Korea Open campaign with a win and will be hoping to add more victories at the WTA 500 event. As with any player, she feels good when she plays a lot of matches, and that will be the plan for the rest of the year.
If she remains healthy, she plans to play as much tennis as possible in this second part of the season.
"I think the rest of the year, as long as I'm healthy I'm going to try and finish the season and play as many matches as I can. So today, as grueling as it was, I think I had three hours of match experience, which can only aid me going into the next few weeks."
"For me now, I just want to play matches and, in the meantime, do a little bit of work on my game where I can."
It's clear that the British player is motivated to play a lot of tennis, and the draw at the 2024 Korea Open in Seoul is wide open. That gives her a great chance to succeed, and if she doesn't, she can back up her words by signing up for more tournaments.
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