‘It sounds weird’ – Emma Raducanu ‘excited’ to step down a level on WTA tour
Emma Raducanu is ready for the challenge and novelty of playing smaller WTA tournaments as she is tasked with building her ranking after the US Open.
The world number 11 will fall to at least 80th in the world after competition finishes in New York as the 2,030 points she gained from her 2021 triumph drop from her ranking.
Raducanu has actually played as many tournaments on the lowest level of the tour, WTA 250 events, as she has appeared in Slam main draws, six each.
Moreover, the Brit has played 17 tournaments in eight months this season for a total of fewer than 30 matches, a tally she will look to increase to build experience.
“I’d say just putting consistent weeks together,” Raducanu said after losing to Alizé Cornet when asked what is important moving forward. “If I look at how much tennis I played this year, or training I’ve done, it’s very, very minimal. We actually counted the days. From Rome to a bit after Wimbledon, I only played tennis for [maybe] 14 days in two months and a half or something. It was pretty wild.
“But, six weeks of training, already feel like I’m so much better as a player. I definitely feel like I am growing in confidence. I think the most important thing for me is just consistency of these weeks, of training, of competing. You lose a match, you’re on the practice court like two days later or something. It’s just not having these big chunks of gaps.”
With three or so months left in the season, Raducanu does have time to get more competitive play under her belt before a chance to build physically in the off-season.
“It could be exciting for me to start my kind of climb back up there in these tournaments in the rest of the year,” she continued. “I actually think for me, the most exciting thing is trying to do well at each of the different tournaments, regardless of what it is.
“It sounds weird, but, US Open defending champion, obviously it would have been great to defend the title. But I kind of want new experiences. In a way I’ve kind of done that, so I want another tournament.
“It doesn’t really matter what it is. I think any player would be happy to win a tournament. It makes a massive difference no matter what the level is. I think I’ll play some 250s. I think the rest of the year is that. We’ll see what the calendar holds.”
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