Emma Raducanu alarm raised as tennis star gears up for return - 'It's all against her'

Emma Raducanu alarm raised as tennis star gears up for return - 'It's all against her'

WATCH NOW: Paul Coyte's sports round-up 15 December 2023

Jack Otway

By Jack Otway


Published: 15/12/2023

- 16:02

The Briton has struggled with injuries over the past year

Serena Williams' former coach Rick Macci has admitted he's concerned by alarming comments from Emma Raducanu.

The Briton made history when she powered her way to US Open glory back in 2021.


However, Raducanu's development has been hampered over the past couple of years with injuries a huge factor.

The 21-year-old has been restricted to just 10 matches this year, having undergone surgery on both of her wrists as well as her ankle in May.

Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu is gearing up for a return to tennis this year

GETTY

Earlier in the year, Raducanu admitted she sometimes wishes she hadn't won the US Open two years ago.

In June, she said: "Sometimes I wish I'd never won the US Open.:

She added: "I had to mature very quickly. When I won I was extremely naive.

"What I have realised in the past two years, the tour and everything that comes with it, it's not a very nice, trusting and safe space."

And Macci, speaking to Tennis Infinity, has now admitted he's been left concerned by Raducanu's comments.

“You don’t lose the talent or the skill: you lose the desire,” said the American.

“With Emma, the only thing that’s a little concerning [is] when I hear she says, ‘I wish I wouldn’t have won the US Open, because everything changed.’ That’s brutal.

“I respect her honesty, but as a little girl, you pick up the racket, you love to play, it’s so innocent.

"Your goal is to like, ‘I want to be like that someday. I want to win tournaments and win a Grand Slam.'

“But anybody at that age that can go through qualifying, win the US Open, you got the talent.

"You got amazing potential mentally, but now it’s all against her. So I wouldn’t write her off.

"But just like [Naomi] Osaka, maybe not this year, but the following year, I think by the end of 2025, she could be top 10 in the world, if she is all in.”

Macci's comments come just a month after he offered to coach Raducanu.

The Briton has been hiring and firing coaches ever since her triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2021.

And Macci said: "If she’s going to listen to every little thing that is said about her then that doesn’t work, you’ve got to be bulletproof and I can help her with that.

Emma Raducanu tennis

Emma Raducanu has struggled ever since winning the US Open back in 2021

GETTY

“You need an ability to forget just as importantly as the ability to remember and she must learn from the adversity she’s faced.”

Meanwhile, on the subject of Raducanu's coaching decisions, the youngster has been called out by former Wimbledon champion ann Jones.

Jones, who won at the All-England club back in 1969, thinks the 21-year-old has got it wrong with her approach.

“We had to find our own answers. You have to work at things yourself,” she said.

She added: “To fire a coach after she had just won the US Open was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

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“Life is about momentum. If you’ve got the momentum, you have to take advantage of it and carry on.

“You’ve got a natural game. What you need to do is to improve what you have got. You don’t have coaches come along and change your game.

“The results are clear. You get injured, because it’s not natural for you to hit the ball in that way.

"It was natural to hit it the way you hit it in the first place.”

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