Emma Raducanu ‘reviewing her body’ and draws up six-month plan

Emma Raducanu intends to draw up a plan to focus on improving her fitness over the coming months. The Brit entered the Australian Open with question marks surrounding her physical status after sustaining an ankle injury in Auckland in the leadup to the Grand Slam

Following a second round loss to Coco Gauff at Melbourne Park, Raducanu has hinted she will take a short break from the tour.

Her plan is to focus on getting her fitness to the best possible condition ahead of the French Open – the second major of the year.  “I just have to review my body right now. I’ve had some niggles in the past few months, and I just need to get that sorted, train, and then we’ll see after that,” she said.

After her early exit, Raducanu, who beat Tamara Korpatsch 6-3 6-2 in the first round, said she was happy she had recovered in time to take part in Melbourne. “I would say all the chips were against us and the chances of me playing this tournament were very, very low,” the 20-year-old added.

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“I think 13 days ago, if you would have told us, ‘Hey, you’re going to be in the draw and win a round’, it would have been a massive effort for sure. Saying that, I still think I didn’t necessarily play my best. I felt like I could have done better.”

The British number one turned in a spirited performance against Gauff, and was able to take the second set to a tiebreak after the American served for the match at 5-4. She showed glimpses of the form that took her to a maiden Grand Slam title at the 2021 US Open.

Despite a disappointing January on the court, it seems Raducanu seems settled with her new coach, Sebastian Sachs and is still on the road to reaching her peak level of fitness.

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Moving forward, she hopes to develop into a more aggressive player. “I have that vision. That’s the way I want to play in the future. I really like the work that we do. He (Sachs) is obviously so experienced and the best in the business. So it will be good.

“I’m really buying into and trusting the work that I’m doing with Sebastian and the rest of the team. So I’m feeling good and confident that, in six months’ time, I know it’s not going to be the finished product, but hopefully I would have made strides.”

It is unknown when Raducanu will next take to the court but some of the upcoming WTA events include next month’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and the Indian Wells BNP Paribas Open in March.