Emma Raducanu is confident “good things are 100 per cent going to happen” after rekindling her love of tennis ahead of returning to Wimbledon.
The 21-year-old will continue preparations for the All England Club by taking on fellow former US Open champion Sloane Stephens on Tuesday in the first round of the Rothesay International in Eastbourne.
Raducanu has struggled with form and injuries since triumphing at Flushing Meadows as a qualifier in 2021 and missed last year’s grass-court season following surgery on both wrists and one ankle.
She admits her passion for competing is the highest it has been “for a long, long time” as she works her way back towards the top 100.
We're sure these two have met before 😉@EmmaRaducanu & @leylahfernandez hit the #RothesayInternational Eastbourne grass! pic.twitter.com/ngU0AD9mwN
— LTA (@the_LTA) June 23, 2024
“I’m just really into it at the moment. I just love the sport, I love tennis,” said Raducanu.
“It’s taken over me and I’ve really rekindled a light in the fire inside of me.
“I’m really grateful to have this feeling again because it’s something that I feel I’ve been missing in a way for the last few years and I haven’t felt this good about my tennis – just excited about it and passionate – for a long, long time.
“Now it’s really comforting for me because I’m way less focused on the result because I know with the way I’m training, the way I’m competing and fighting on the court, good things are 100 per cent going to happen.
“I have full faith and belief in that now and I can say it and mean it at the same time, rather than just saying it.”
After opting to skip the French Open, she has been handed a wild card for Wimbledon and feels performing on home soil provides additional motivation for all British players.
“I have a big joy for playing in the UK, I missed it last year, obviously, and it’s nice – you kind of forget the feeling,” said Raducanu.
“I think you would push your body further to play over this period of time.
“I think all of us (British players) really live for it, we come alive, we put our clay shoes in the bin pretty early and then get on the grass.
“We do push ourselves more for this and understand the implications that may or may not come with it.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here