Emma Raducanu has dropped to No. 300 in the world this Monday but from this moment it’s only the way up for the Briton who can now only collect and not lose any points in the remainder of the year.
After starting her post-surgery comeback ranked at No. 301 in the world, Raducanu improved to No. 250 in early March. But then, Raducanu had to defend points from her Indian Wells round-of-16 showing in 2023 and there was also some small number of points to defend from just appearing in 2023 Miami, where she lost in the first round.
Following an Indian Wells third-round exit and a withdrawal from Miami caused by a lower-back injury, Raducanu first plummetted to No. 288 after the first tournament of the Sunshine Double before dropping an additional 12 spots after the conclusion of the Sunshine Double.
While Raducanu would have certainly loved to have managed to gain some points during the Sunshine Double and continue her rankings progress, it is still far from the end of the world for the 21-year-old.
Since Raducanu has been able to practice on clay in recent days, the indication is that she will be able to kick off her clay season at a WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart, which starts on April 15th. In Stuttgart, Raducanu played her last tournament of the 2023 season before having three surgeries.
In Stuttgart last year, Raducanu lost in the first round so by just appearing there she can’t lose any points. By at least making the round-of-16, the Briton would add some ranking points to her name.
Then gets the best part as in every tournament Raducanu plays in the rest of the season, she can only gain points and not lose. Considering the situation in which Raducanu is in, it is heavily expected that she will make a notable ranking improvement before the season ends and, if not return to the top-100, at least come close to the top-100 club.
Raducanu will improve her ranking but she is not too concerned about her results
Since Raducanu launched her comeback, much focus and emphasis has been on whether the 2021 US Open champion can be better than she was in the last two years and unlock her potential to the fullest.
So far, Raducanu’s comeback has been actually going well, and besides a minor lower-back injury, she hasn’t had any serious injuries or setbacks. When it comes to the tennis, the 21-year-old has had some notable wins and very strong performances – in Auckland earlier this year, Raducanu was just a few points away from beating 2023 Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina before losing in three sets.
While many are interested in seeing how Raducanu’s health and results go in 2024, the Briton insists for her it’s only about staying healthy and seeing improvements in her game.
“I want to work on becoming a better tennis player. I think for me I’m not too concerned about this year’s tournaments,” Raducanu told BBC in early March.
“A lot of people out there would say that I need matches, but I think that for me I want to work on my game and development. Taking time to do that is very necessary and not just following the crowd, or playing a lot of matches, or dropping down [to Challenger level] to do that. I want to work on developing skills.”
Raducanu left her last tournament played feeling positive about her performance
Before withdrawing from Miami, Raducanu competed at a WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells. In the desert, Raducanu didn’t make back-to-back round-of-16 but she still did pretty well as she demolished Rebeka Masarova 6-2 6-3 and led 4-0 against Dayana Yastremska before the Ukrainian retired from their match.
After two strong outings, Raducanu was rewarded with an Indian Wells third-round meeting against world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Against Sabalenka, Raducanu may have suffered a 3-6 5-7 loss but she competed extremely well and the match could have even gone into a completely different direction had the Briton converted some of her chances in both sets.
“It was a good success, I would say,” Raducanu said after concluding her run in Indian Wells.
“I think I have handled myself a lot better on the match court. I was a lot more positive and hungry to play, and that showed I think in the tennis that I did play.”
“I did make progress here on the match court compared to when I was playing in the Middle East last month,” Raducanu said.
“I had a better mentality: just fighting a lot harder for every point. I think I’m proud of myself for that, just really showing up, being hungry and wanting to be there.”
Next on Raducanu’s schedule is representing Great Britain in their Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers between April 12-13 and then kicking off her clay season in Stuttgart.
The first three months of Raducanu’s comeback went well and now the goal is to continue trending in the right direction during the clay season.
