(Image: Tennis World USA)
Tim Henman reveals he was in contact with Emma Raducanu before the 20-year-old Briton decided to undergo multiple surgeries. For quite some time, Raducanu was hampered by various injuries and physical setbacks – most notably, the Briton’s wrist was causing her constant problems.
Initially, Raducanu tried to manage her wrist injury and play through it but it wasn’t really working. Now, Henman reveals Raducanu was told by the doctors continuing to play wouldn’t make her wrist injury any worse – but it wasn’t changing the fact that she would still be limited in certain things.
On March 3rd, Raducanu announced she was having surgeries on both hands and her left ankle.
Henman on his conversations with Raducanu
“I’ve spoken to her a lot about it and I think the message that she was getting from the surgeons was that she won’t make it worse, she won’t do more damage but it was about trying to manage the pain.
But then I think it was definitely restricting how much practice she could do so then she’s not able to really make the improvements on the court. So I think that really added to her frustration because she wasn’t able to do herself justice.
So I think it’s great that she’s getting these operations done and she’ll be able to bounce back and be even better when she returns,” Henman told Express Sport. Raducanu hasn’t had much success since her impressive 2021 US Open victory.
However, it should be noted that Raducanu was pretty much dealing all the time with an injury or a physical setback. “I think from her point of view since the US Open really she’s just been trying to play catch-up physically.
And she hasn’t been able to gain that physical endurance, that resilience because it all happened so quickly and then when she’s had opportunities to train, she’s been unlucky as well,” Henman added. Henman also said he is rooting for Raducanu to make a successful recovery and enjoy a very bright future when she returns to the court.
