Emma Raducanu warning fired by Tim Henman with US Open decision due

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Just playing a full season’s tennis would be an achievement for Emma Raducanu next season, as the anniversary of her stunning US Open triumph comes around once more. That’s according to Tim Henman, who will return to Sky Sports as a pundit for the final Grand Slam of the season when the New York event gets underway on August 28.

It’s almost two years since an 18-year-old Raducanu stunned the world of tennis by becoming the first qualifier to win the US Open on her first attempt.

But since then, a career that should be blossoming has been dogged by indifferent form and a rotten run of injuries as a string of coaches have come and gone.

Raducanu has endured two wrist surgeries and another on her ankle over the summer, resulting in a four-month spell on the sidelines that has seen the Brit drop to 152 in the world rankings.

She is likely to be in attendance at Flushing Meadows later this month after one of her major sponsors, Tiffany, signed a new multi-million-pound deal to continue supplying trophies for the US Open.

Her expected appearance in New York may only be as a spectator on this occasion, but former Wimbledon favourite Henman has warned Raducanu and fans of the Brit that just playing a full tour schedule next year will be an achievement in itself for the 20-year-old as he tempered expectations.

Speaking to the i, Henmand said: “If she plays 22, 23 tournaments next year, that would be a great achievement, because the only way you’re going to do that is if you’re fit and healthy.

“If she’s fit and healthy, the results will come. She’s that good a player. She’s too good not to win matches.”

Raducanu’s remarkable US Open victory in 2021 came without dropping a single set in the tournament, where she eventually defeated fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

But 12 months later the defence of her title didn’t get past the first round as the 11th seed was brutally dispatched by France’s Alize Cornet in straight sets. Having been ranked as high as No 10 last July, Raducanu now faces her toughest test yet, just to get back to playing elite tennis.

It is hoped that she will return at some point in October, but Henman believes that the chance to undertake extended periods of physical training gives the Toronto-born star a unique opportunity ahead of her return.

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Henman said: “No one as a professional athlete likes to be injured or wants to be injured. “Having said that, I think this has been and will be a great opportunity to really build a foundation, and it’s really around physical resilience.

“She hasn’t had the opportunity to do the big, extended periods of physical training. Tennis ability is never going to be an issue but because of her journey, just being so unexpected coming out of Covid and playing at Wimbledon, with no real physical foundation, and then doing what she did in New York, she’s always been playing catch up.

“And so now having had the surgeries, which I believe have been a success, she can really put in the hard yards to build up that physicality for her then to be able to let her tennis do the talking.”

Painting a upbeat outlook for Raducanu, Henman added: “If she can be fit and healthy, she’ll get back in the top 100 comfortably and she’ll get back in the top 50. And who knows from there?

“So I’m very positive and optimistic. She’s such a great player that everybody would love to see Emma at the US Open, but she’s gonna have so many opportunities ahead of her. She and we just need to be a little bit patient.”

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