Emma Raducanu will begin on the road to her US Open title defence with a number of hard-court tournaments coming up and the American swing which will see the British No 1 in action in Toronto and Cincinnati
Tuesday 19 July 2022 06:14, UK
Early exits at the Australian, French Opens and Wimbledon may have tempered expectations slightly, but the focus will still be on Emma Raducanu ahead of the US Open.
The 19-year-old from Kent saw her Wimbledon dreams ended by Caroline Garcia in the second round.
But despite losing at the All England Club, Raducanu became the first woman born in 2002 or later to enter the top 10 in the WTA world rankings.
She became the fifth British woman to break into the top 10 since the WTA Rankings computer system was introduced, joining Virginia Wade, Sue Barker, Jo Durie and Johanna Konta in a huge boost ahead of the American swing.
Since that memorable day in New York last year, Raducanu has gone through three coaches, battled coronavirus, blisters and a number of niggling injuries, while her body is still adjusting to the demands of competing on the Tour week in, week out.
Her Australian Open journey ended in the second-round loss to Danka Kovinic, while her Parisian adventure came to an end at the hands of Aliaksandra Sasnovich, the world No 47 from Belarus, at Roland Garros.
She could take plenty of positives from the clay-court season though, and a 6-5 win-loss record is not to be sniffed at given she only played her first professional match on the surface a few months ago.
Raducanu's attention quickly turned a full circle, back to the grass, Wimbledon - where her meteoric rise began - and returning to play in England as the reigning US Open champion.
Her Wimbledon points currently made up the second-highest points on her ranking but she was unable to defend them with the WTA revoking the tournament's ranking points after the All England Club banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing.
She headed into the Grand Slam having played just only 34 minutes of competitive action on grass after suffering a side strain at the Nottingham Open.
Raducanu said the Wimbledon loss to Garcia is part of her learning curve towards the top of the women's game.
"It will make me a better player because they [other top players] are just highlighting all my weaknesses," she said.
"Then when you do it on a big court like that, it's definitely magnified. It's just great for me to get all these lessons at such a young age so that when I'm in my mid 20s, I'll have those issues or little glitches in my game sorted. I'll just get better."
Now all roads lead to New York where the Bromley-based youngster became the first qualifier in history - male or female - to win a Grand Slam title.
She played 10 matches in two weeks to emulate Virginia Wade by becoming the first British woman to win the singles title in New York for 53 years, and the first to claim a Grand Slam title since Wade's famous 1977 Wimbledon success.
Can she do the impossible and reclaim her title?
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