Emma Raducanu says she accomplished something “pretty unheard of” this season and therefore believes that she has zero reason not to think that it was a successful year for her and a good foundation for the future.
As you probably know, the British tennis star missed the entire second part of 2023 after undergoing surgeries on both wrists and her foot. While she was able to start her post-surgery comeback in the first week of 2024, she ended up playing only 13 WTA tournaments.
In limited actions, Raducanu still managed to reach her first WTA semifinal since 2022 – made the second week at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2021 – and also clinched her first two wins against top-10 players.
Early in her return, the 22-year-old was ranked around No. 300 in the world. Today, she sits at No. 58 in the world.
For the Asian swing, the Briton had big plans and made the quarterfinal at the WTA 500 tournament in Seoul in mid-October. But then, she picked up an unfortunate ligament injury and didn’t play again until returning to action at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. Had Raducanu stayed healthy and played five tournaments in Asia as she wanted, she could have easily now been ranked inside the top-30 or even top-20.
And after also clinching back-to-back straight-set wins…