Raducanu learns fast for US test
WEEKS of hard graft in the punishing US summer conditions will help ensure Emma Raducanu does not suffer like she did at Wimbledon this year.
Later today, the Kent teenager begins her attempt to qualify for the US Open and she admitted last night that her enforced retirement from the fourth round at SW19 had been the steepest of learning curves.
With her A-levels done, being able to train like a fully fledged pro will help her catch up with more experienced rivals.
‘I think the biggest learning was how physically behind I am because I haven’t done much work, relative to these other girls who have been on the Tour for 10 years and competing,’ she said, looking back on the run at the All England Club that propelled her to fame.
‘To be playing the intensity that I was at for a couple of weeks in a row was something completely new to me.
‘I think that’s definitely a big gap in my game and, since then, I’ve just been working on trying to physically get stronger and have better endurance.
‘I put that down (her breathing issues against Ajla Tomljanovic) to just the exhaustion in the moment. We had some 20-plus shot rallies at the end of the first set. It’s not the same level lower down in the rankings.’
Raducanu, 18, now begins a further stage of her education at Flushing Meadows.
In the first round of the three she would need to win in qualifying, she faces Holland’s Bibiane Schoofs, the world No 283. Ultimately, she might have to beat Egypt’s Mayar Sherif, one of the best players in the preliminary event.
She has been helped by being seeded 31st this week, something earned by making the final of the substantial WTA Challenger event in Chicago on Sunday, which she narrowly lost to Denmark’s Clara Tauson.
Raducanu, now up to 150 in the rankings, is being coached in the USA by former British Davis Cup player Andrew Richardson, who she has worked with previously at the Bromley Tennis Centre.
The arrangement with the experienced Nigel Sears, who was alongside her at Wimbledon, ended after The Championships.
‘I really respect Nigel and we got on great but, at this stage of my career, a fresh voice and ear is good,’ she said.
Raducanu is one of six British women in qualifying. Liam Broady is the only GB male trying to make the main event.
Although the US Open is not operating in a Covid ‘bubble’ with full crowds in from Monday, the qualifying tournament is being played behind closed doors. Andy Murray is preparing by playing the ATP event in Winston-Salem.