When will we see Emma Raducanu back in action? 2021 US Open champion was beaten by Anhelina Kalinina in Qatar and now plans to return home to London; watch over 80 tournaments a year, including the US Open, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis
Friday 23 February 2024 17:51, UK
Emma Raducanu suffered an early defeat at the Qatar Open in Doha and she is highly unlikely to take a wildcard into the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, so when will we see her next on the new Sky Sports Tennis channel?
The 2021 US Open champion has been showing positive signs having spent eight months out of action in 2023 after wrist and ankle surgeries.
The 21-year-old was hampered by a stomach bug during her loss at the Australian Open but her tennis was encouraging and she stepped up her comeback with victory over Marie Bouzkova in Abu Dhabi before being denied a spot in the quarter-finals by Ons Jabeur.
My main goal is to stay healthy injury-wise, sickness-wise. Also another goal is consistency.
She received a wildcard into the Qatar Open but suffered a straight-sets defeat to world No 30 Anhelina Kalinina.
Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, Raducanu said: "I think I was struggling with everything, serve, return, forehand, backhand.
"To be honest I felt like I never really got into it. I think it was a combination of things. It's like my first day match I think I've played in a year, so that's different.
"Honestly, I think I need to practice training outside a bit more because it's very different and also the light, conditions, shadows - it's really hard to kind of see the ball, I found towards the end.
"When the tennis isn't there, you have to at least try to fight and I think I did that in the second set."
Raducanu, who has reunited with childhood coach Nick Cavaday, spoke about her goals for the season during the launch of the Sky Sports Tennis.
"My main goal is to stay healthy injury-wise, sickness-wise. Also another goal is consistency. One thing I needed to do after Australia was that I knew I had areas to develop and obviously when you start working with a new coach they implement new things, so you want to give yourself time to do that, but on the tour there is no time," said Raducanu, who is now ranked British No 7.
"In recent months I made a few technical tweaks so I mean to try and change something technically, it's difficult. You start with hand feeds, baskets, drilling, point play and then match play."
Raducanu confirmed she doesn't plan to take up a wildcard at the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai and will instead head back to London to train.
She is currently ranked at No 296 in the world and not even her protected ranking (which is given to players who are out of action for an extended period) of No 103 is enough to get into the draw at most top tournaments.
But given the fact she is a former Grand Slam champion and draws in big crowds, there is a high possibility she will be offered wildcards into the main draw of many future tournaments if she decides that is her best route or potentially drop down a level to 125 tournaments in order to gain some much-needed match wins.
We could well see her at Indian Wells in early March next.
The third WTA 1000 of the season is set in the California desert and is known as the unofficial fifth Grand Slam. It is one of the biggest tournaments on the calendar as it has a larger draw size of 128 singles players. The Miami Open which follows will also be an option for her.
Whether we will see Raducanu represent Great Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup or the Paris Olympics is not yet known. Britain play France again on April 12-13, but Raducanu may not feature.
The tie will be played on indoor clay, which is the same surface as the following week's tournament in Stuttgart, where Raducanu is likely to play as it is organised by Porsche, one of her sponsors.
Last year she lost in the first round while in 2022 she made the quarter-final.
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