Emma Raducanu’s approach to scheduling and the sport as a whole was criticized by a renowned physical trainer on the ATP Tour.
Raducanu is still just 21 years old, but she has sustained several injuries throughout her young career, leading to some worrying about her chances of having a long career in the sport.
The 2021 US Open champion was out for nearly nine months last year with severe wrist and ankle injuries. Both those issues required surgery, leading to the long recovery and rehabilitation period that kept her sidelined.
Raducanu returned to tennis at the start of this year at the ASB Classic in Auckland. There have been some encouraging moments this season, such as reaching the Nottingham Open semifinals and outstanding performances at the Billie Jean King Cup in April.
However, the Briton’s decision-making has also been subjected to scrutiny. She surprised many by not playing a match for over three weeks before the US Open after not entering the qualifying for the Canadian Open or Cincinnati Open.
The former champion at Flushing Meadows lost in the opening round to Sofia Kenin. She admitted that not playing more matches beforehand was the wrong decision and that she would learn from it.
Raducanu attempted to rectify that mistake by planning a busy schedule for the current Asian swing. She started positively by winning her two opening matches at the Korea Open in Seoul.
Unfortunately, Raducanu retired from her quarterfinal in Seoul after 31 minutes because of an injury. She then withdrew from the China Open, explaining that she had sprained ligaments in her foot.
However, Kieron Vorster, who has worked with players such as Tim Henman and Dan Evans, does not have much sympathy for Raducanu, telling the Mail Online she was paying the price for not playing enough matches despite training hard.
“She just doesn’t play enough matches. I’ve seen her train and she trains hard, she works hard, there’s no doubting that. But you can train as hard as you like — if you don’t have that match fitness, your body is not hardened and robust enough to play match after match after match.”
Vorster feels there are too many people around Raducanu telling her what she wants to hear and that her abbreviated schedule is mind-blowing and makes no sense.
“I think there could potentially be a lot of ‘yes’ people around her, instead of people telling her what she doesn’t want to hear, ‘You know what, Emma, you need to get out there and play. She’s a good player. That’s not the issue. But this abbreviated schedule is just mind-blowing.”
“There’s too many people around her. She’s got a guy from IMG (the agency who represent her) travelling with her every single week. The tennis world’s gone crazy: gone are the days where you just have your coach and your physical trainer.”
The physical trainer also said winning the US Open might have been a poisoned chalice, leading to decisions such as not playing the French Open and the Olympics, which Vorster finds crazy.
“It was an unbelievable achievement for her to win the US Open, but sometimes I think that could have been the thorn in her side, a poisoned chalice, because she went from hero to zero to hero and now she just doesn’t understand what it takes. She turned down playing the Olympics, playing the French Open. At 21, I just think it’s crazy — you should be jumping at the chance.”
