Emma Raducanu’s next move after she achieved one ‘big thing’ with her recent results
Emma Raducanu won’t feature at next week’s Canadian Open as she has opted against taking part in the qualifying tournament and her next event is likely to be the Cincinnati Open. The 2021 US Open winner didn’t gain direct entry into the WTA 1000 event in Toronto as her ranking was too low. The cutoff date for the main draw was July 22 and she was ranked No 93 at the time. She was overlooked for a wildcard with the four places going to Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu, Rebecca Marino and Marina Stakusic. The 21-year-old then had the option of taking part in qualifying, but her name was absent from the qualifying draw.
The Cincinnati Open follows the Canada event and Raducanu is expected to play, and it is widely expected that she will get a wildcard from organisers as her ranking is still not good enough for a direct entry. Following her decision to skip the Paris Olympics to focus on her long-term health and ranking, Raducanu signed up for the Washington Open and she produced some good results, reaching the quarter-final before losing in three sets against Paula Badosa.
Those results are set to earn her a 20-place surge in the WTA Rankings and she is set to jump to No 69, achieving her goal of making the main draw of the US Open. “I started the grass season ranked outside of 200 and finished it in the top 100. For me that was relatively successful. It guaranteed me a spot hopefully in the main draw of the US [Open]. That was a big thing for me. I wanted to make sure I got into the Slams,” she said in Washington.
“I think, compared to a year ago, this time a year ago I hadn’t been touching tennis balls. I was in China actually, which was great. I got to see my family for a good month. Yeah, I didn’t touch a tennis ball until late November really. “I had, like, one week hitting sponge balls in August, then stopped because I had setbacks. Didn’t pick another one up till late November, December.
“Yeah, I’m very pleased to be in the place that I am, competing, healthy, just enjoying my tennis.” Although she is assured of playing at the US Open, only the top 43 players in the world will gain direct entry due into the Cincinnati Open while eight will come through qualifying and an additional four players will be awarded a wildcard. Given her lack of qualifying tournaments in recent years, Raducanu’s hopes rest on a wildcard.
The Cincinnati Open is the last big event for the US Open with many players often opting to skip the tournaments the week before a Grand Slam. Raducanu, though, did play in the Eastbourne International the week before Wimbledon and reached the quarter-final so could opt for a similar schedule. The WTA 500 Monterrey Open and WTA 250 Tennis in the Land in Cleveland the final two warm-up events before the US Open.
