Raducanu's Decision To Withdraw From Exhibition Played At 'Awkward Time' Praised By Roddick

Friday, 24 November 2023 at 15:00

bySebastian Dahlman

Emma Raducanu was supposed to make her comeback at the Macau exhibition in early December but withdrew from the event, something former player Andy Roddick thinks is a good idea.

It's been a very long time since we saw Raducanu on a tennis court. She underwent triple surgery earlier this year to address some of the issues that were plaguing her, and since then, it's been rehab time.

There was speculation about her possibly returning at the start of December at an exhibition in Macau, but she dropped those plans. With that, her return will likely only happen in Australia a month later, which is a good plan, according to former player Andy Roddick.

The American doesn't like such an early exhibition event because it could throw the Brit's offseason plans. We've seen how unconventional approaches to tennis offseason can have a huge negative impact on a player.

Casper Ruud opted to skip the offseason and keep practicing in December, and it backfired spectacularly. Roddick is glad Raducanu isn't making the same mistake as he revealed to Betway.

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It’s tough because we don’t know if it’s a recurrence of the same two injuries that she has or if it’s a fitness issue or maybe the training is going so well they don’t want to interrupt a really cohesive training block with a trip to Macau in December.

That’s always an awkward time to play an exhibition event. I liked playing them right after the season ends or right before the season begins because it gives you more uninterrupted training. Maybe that’s just what she felt she needed. I’d be guessing at this point.

Raducanu has been updating fans on social media with practice footage, and it's pretty clear that she's close to returning. Roddick believes she'll play at least one event before the Australian Open to get her feet wet. We'll see if that happens because there were some reports earlier that it might not.

I know one thing that has to happen if she’s going to go start playing a Slam in Australia, she’s going to have to play something before. There’s going to have to be a 250, I would even like to see her play two events in the lead-up, because there’s just nothing guaranteed. You want those matches.