Emma Raducanu’s comment come back to haunt her as 2024 schedule crumbles

Emma Raducanu’s comment about ‘playing more matches’ in the final weeks of the 2024 season have already come back to bite the Brit.Raducanu had looked as if she turned a corner earlier in the summer when she appeared at the Nottingham Open, Eastbourne and then Wimbledon, where the 21-year-old made it to the fourth round of the competition – her strongest Grand Slam performance since winning the US Open in 2021.

But things have since taken a turn for the worse, with Raducanu having featured in just three tournaments since Wimbledon – her latest culminating in a withdrawal from the Korea Open with injury. Raducanu’s withdrawal from the Beijing Open came next, having cited ligament damage in her foot, before confirmation she would miss the Wuhan Open shortly followed.

It comes after the Toronto-born star had previously pledged to be involved in as many tennis events as possible before the turn of the year – a promise she so far hasn’t been able to keep. Speaking less than a month ago, Raducanu told the official WTA website: “I think the rest of the year, as long as I’m healthy, I’m going to try and finish the season and play as many matches as I can.

“It’s something I’m really light on since the grass through the (Washington) DC period. I’ve not played many points, even in practice. She continued: “I think I had three hours of match experience which can only aid me going into the next few weeks. “For me now, I just want to play matches and, in the meantime, do a little bit of work on my game where I can.”

Time is running out for Raducanu to make a real impact on what remains of 2024, given the Hong Kong Open had been pencilled in as her likely last event of the year. The event in Hong Kong is scheduled to take place at the end of October, with Raducanu expected to turn attention to the Australia Open in January 2025 after that.

Currently, on the WTA Tour, top seed Aryna Sabalenka will face Katerina Siniakova at the Wuhan Open, with Coco Gauff paired up against Viktoriya Tomova in the first round. Zheng Qinwen and Jaqueline Cristian will battle it out for a place in round three, whereas Jasmine Paulini plays Yuan Yue and Jessica Pegula takes on Anastasia Potapova.