Former world No 7 Barbara Schett is a believer in Emma Raducanu as the former Austrian tennis star is confident the 2021 US Open champion will reach the top-10. Raducanu, 20, wrote tennis history when she became the first player ever to win a Grand Slam as a qualifier.
But Raducanu hasn’t won any titles since her stunning 2021 US Open victory. Since then, Raducanu has been often struggling with injuries and physical setbacks. Giving her take on Raducanu, Schett said she feels staying healthy and fit is the key for the 20-year-old.
Schett: Raducanu will come back
“With Emma it is always about the fitness. Since she won the US Open, there have been a lot of injuries and I’m not sure how well she has prepared in this off-season, but Emma will come back.
She is too good of a tennis player not to be in the top ten. It is not that long ago that she won the US Open from nowhere. She wanted to win a round in that tournament to buy herself a new set of ear pods. Suddenly she wins a Grand Slam title and she has all these sponsors, all this attention.
I think people are patient with her, they have not crushed her yet. This is good to see,” Schett told Tennis365. Unfortunately for Raducanu, she was hit by a setback in her very first tournament of the season. In Auckland, Raducanu rolled her ankle and was forced to retire her round-of-16 match.
For Raducanu, it was a devastating blow since she spent the entire offseason working hard in the gym on getting stronger. But retiring injured in Auckland, Raducanu still went to Melbourne with her team. Then, Raducanu’s team did all they could to speed up the process of recovering from an ankle sprain.
During her pre-tournament press conference in Melbourne, Raducanu confirmed she is ready to go. In the Australian Open first round, Raducanu plays Tamara Korpatsch.
