Emma Raducanu offered grim prediction despite nailing French Open decision

Emma Raducanu has been warned by Express Sport readers that she will never return to the world’s top 10 despite making the right decision by skipping the French Open. Raducanu did not participate at Roland Garros after withdrawing from the qualifying tournament just 24 hours before she was due to begin her campaign. The young Brit will be hoping to return to peak fitness ahead of Wimbledon, the tournament she broke through at in 2021 before winning the US Open later that year.

However, it seems Express Sport readers are not expecting Raducanu to reach those same heights again. An overwhelming 71 per cent of respondents to our latest tennis poll said that Raducanu will never return to the top 10 of the world rankings. However, the remaining 29 per cent still believe she can restore former glories if she recaptures her very best form and stays injury-free.

Meanwhile, 68 per cent of respondents agreed that Raducanu made a smart decision to skip the French Open with the aim of being in peak condition for Wimbledon. She has never gone beyond the fourth round at SW19 and has not played there since 2022, when she was knocked out in round two. That history has not discouraged Raducanu, though, with the 21-year-old telling Grazia in a recent interview that she is confident of making her mark at Wimbledon sooner rather than later.

“I feel good, I’m playing well and I’m training really hard, I’m doing a lot of good things and I know it’s going to happen,” she declared. “If not this Wimbledon, the next Wimbledon. I fully back myself and trust myself. It’s just a matter of when really.

“I’ve been doing all the right things so I’m just looking forward to playing in front of a home crowd. I didn’t really know or have any awareness that if I achieved great things, the impact it would have. I would say only in more recent years have I understood how far sport can go.

“To think that a kid would have my poster on their wall is pretty surreal. I feel like I’m playing for all those young players, they inspire me to be the best player on the court.”

Raducanu has not played a competitive match since suffering a first-round defeat to Maria Lourdes Carle at the Madrid Open in April. There were encouraging signs before that, with Raducanu earning wins over Angelique Kerber and Linda Noskova on her way to the Stuttgart Open quarter-finals.