There’s no doubt that Raducanu’s first appearance catapulted her into stardom, not only in the world of tennis, but also outside of the sporting world. The now 21-year-old first made her Grand Slam main-draw debut on a wildcard to Wimbledon back in 2021, advancing to the third round with initial victories over Vitalia Diatchenko and Markéta Vondroušová. Her progress in the tournament meant she was the youngest British woman to reach the Wimbledon third round since Elena Baltacha in 2002. However, in her fourth round match against Ajla Tomljanović, Raducanu had to retire after experiencing breathing difficulties and sickness - though it should be noted that the timing of this exit meant she was still the youngest British woman to reach the last 16 in the Open Era.
Though the sickness she experienced did hint to the other health issues that would follow for the tennis player, Raducanu’s big win then came at the US Open that year. Her talent was on clear display here, as she advanced to the semi-finals without dropping a set and became the fifth player to reach a grand slam semi-final as a qualifier.
Clearly the talent of Raducanu is immense, and the start of her professional career demonstrates this. But there is no doubt that the player has suffered a number of setbacks since her historic win at the US Open, namely because of hand and foot injuries that forced her to take a hiatus from the sport.
Indeed, another setback for the player includes a lack of consistency with her coaching team, with the player coming under scrutiny for her unorthodox strategy of rapidly hiring and dismissing coaches. In fact, her new partnership with Nick Cavaday will hopefully mean that Raducanu abandons this approach to coaching and this will provide more consistent results during matches.
With Raducanu’s performance in the this level of sport does require so much more consistency than she is giving at this moment.
After suffering a second round defeat to second seed and eventual finalist Elina Svitolina at the 2024 Auckland Open, Raducanu would then go on to be defeated again in the first round of the Qatar Open to Anhelina Kalinina, the world number 30. This most recent match was a mixture of highs and lows, with Raducanu’s performance in the first set, quite frankly, being atrocious. However, the player showed that she still has the ability to play an aggressive form of tennis and fought back hard in the second set to have some potent strokes. However, this level of sport does require so much more consistency than she is giving at this moment, meaning that the 48 errors she struck in this match shows how volatile this kind of play can be.
There’s clearly a difficulty in finding your rhythm as a player when a long hiatus has setback progress, but Raducanu still has it in her to become one of the greats of tennis. With more consistency in her coaching and form, Radacunu can refine the raw talent she has and play a long career in tennis with many accolades - after all, it is going to take time for her to settle into the Grand Slam circuit, but there is no doubt that she must become more consistent in this demanding tennis schedule.
