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As the clay-court swing began to gather momentum at the Madrid Open last April, things were not quite right with Great Britain’s best female tennis player. During her pre-tournament press conference, Emma Raducanu refused to engage at all with the reporters. She was short and abrupt, batting away questions with as much force as her vicious two-handed backhand.
It turned out that she had plenty on her mind. The next day she withdrew from the tournament due to injury and announced she would take an indefinite leave from the tour as her injuries healed. She then underwent three surgeries, one on each hand plus one on her left ankle. Her team initially hoped she would be back before the end of the year.
eek in Auckland. On Tuesday in Melbourne against Shelby Rogers, she will return to grand-slam tennis. So much has happened since her US Open triumph in 2021, and the biggest question surrounding her comeback is whether she will finally be able to take steps towards properly establishing herself on the tour.
READ MORE:Emma Raducanu ‘feeling good’ in Melbourne
Injuries are one of the toughest parts of professional sport, immobilising the fastest movers in the world, taking them far away from their craft. Recovery means tedious days of rehab and immense patience is required as they register very gradual improvements. After her operations, Raducanu could barely move for two weeks and after initially returning to the court, she suffered a significant setback.
“I had two wrists and ankle all in very close succession so I could have the minimal time off possible,” said Raducanu. “Each one is two weeks of no sweating at all. For a period of time, I had a scooter to move around. I couldn’t, like, text, anything. “
Such is the difficulty of tennis, though, lengthy layoffs can sometimes actually be helpful. Throughout the recent history of the sport there are countless examples of players taking time away from the grind and actually benefiting from their absences.
Sloane Stephens returned to win the 2017 US Open weeks after a one-year layoff; the final, glorious stanza of Roger Federer’s career was kicked off by his remarkable Australian Open title the same year. Most recently, Elina Svitolina returned last year from maternity leave refreshed after initially taking a break from the sport in 2022 due to burnout. Many players simply need to step off the intense hamster wheel of professional tennis and its exhaustive travel demands in order to gain a proper appreciation for their sport.
