Emma Raducanu is ready to ‘do some damage’ in 2025 after being stifled by injuries for a second consecutive season. The Brit has been absent for almost two months since suffering a foot ligament issue at the Korea Open.
In September, Raducanu revealed that she planned to close out the year with a flurry of activity in Asia, a continent which ‘feels like home’. But the 21-year-old’s latest niggle forced her to pull out of WTA 1000 events in Beijing and Wuhan.
This week’s tournament in Ningbo has also come too soon, while Raducanu plans to sit out the Guangzhou Open before rounding off her campaign with trips to Hong Kong and the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Spain.
It has been a frustrating season for Raducanu and a ‘volatile’ three years since she rocked the tennis world by winning the US Open as a teenage qualifier. But she’s now back inside the world’s top 60 and believes next year will be the year she makes a splash in major tournaments.
“I’m prepared to work hard and do some damage next year,” she told Women’s Health magazine. “There has been a lot of volatility over the past three years. And I think the most I’ve come into myself has been in the last few weeks.”
Raducanu has only played in three events since her impressive run to the fourth round at Wimbledon, which matched her best run at SW19 three years ago.
A spirited showing in a quarter-final defeat to Paula Badosa at the Citi Open and another run to the quarters in Korea were both sources of encouragement before injury struck and forced her to retire against Daria Kasatkina.
Raducanu has taken a philosophical view of her latest setback as she bids to make her injury worries a thing of the past.
“One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is non-attachment; acknowledging that everything comes and goes,” she continued. “I’ve taught myself not to label things as black or white.
“For example, with this injury, I’m trying to catch myself and stop labelling it as like, ‘Oh, I’m so unlucky, this is so bad.’ I’ve learned to accept things and reframe them. I’m not completely unable to exercise, so I’ll still do things like yoga or Pilates – low-impact exercise, so I’m focusing on that. I’ve matured a lot in the last few weeks, to be honest.”
