Emma Raducanu had to face a backlash for choosing not to play the 2024 Paris Olympics, but she is proving she made the right call by competing in Washington this week instead.
As a former Grand Slam champion, Raducanu could have featured at the ongoing Olympics under an exemption, but she opted to prioritise the North American hard-court season.
The 21-year-old British star has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open and will continue her rise back up the WTA Rankings on the back of her run in the American capital.
Raducanu was met with criticism after announcing she would pass up the opportunity to make her Olympic debut earlier this year and has continued to come under fire more recently.
Heather Watson, who competed for Great Britain in women’s and mixed doubles at the Games, questioned Raducanu’s absence when asked about her compatriot’s decision.
“I can’t really comprehend it,” Watson said in an interview in Paris.
“The Olympics is the greatest sporting event in history. So why wouldn’t you want to be a part of that? Anyone in general who chooses not to participate, I can’t relate.”
Despite the noise surrounding Raducanu’s move, she has already been more than vindicated by earning two wins to build on her encouraging results in recent months.
The former world No 10 holds a healthy 18-10 record this season and has now won 15 of her last 21 matches dating back to Indian Wells in March.
She defeated world No 35 Elise Mertens 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the opening round in Washington, before seeing off 51st-ranked Peyton Stearns 7-6(6), 6-2 in the second round.
Having started the week as the world No 89, Raducanu has climbed 20 places to 69th in the live WTA Rankings and could return to the top 60 if she beats Paula Badosa or Liudmila Samsonova to reach the last four.
Speaking before her campaign in Washington, Raducanu remained confident she had made the right call, despite admitting to feeling FOMO about the Olympics.
“I would say for me, staying on one surface is important,” she told the media. “The change in surface isn’t the best thing for me right now. In the future, maybe it would have been.
“At this moment in time, I think switching to clay straight after grass, it’s such a big contrast, then back onto the hard courts, I didn’t want to risk anything. For me, this option was just a lot better.
“Of course, there are elements of FOMO, missing out. Watching the Olympic ceremony, everybody in their team kits, a part of you obviously wants to be there and representing your country. I think when I think big picture, long-term, it’s the right call.”
Raducanu’s reluctance to risk making an extra surface change is entirely logical given her past injury issues, which culminated in season-ending surgeries on both her wrists and her ankle in May last year.
It also makes sense for Raducanu to give herself the best possible chance for the North American hard-court swing given it is a time of the year during which she has previously thrived.
Raducanu stunned the tennis world by winning the 2021 US Open as a qualifier, while she also earned impressively dominant wins over Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka en route to the last 16 at the WTA 1000 event in Cincinnati a year later.
The Brit is aiming to reach her second-ever WTA final this week and is setting herself up nicely ahead of her return to the US Open, which she missed through injury last year.
Competing at the Olympics is a huge achievement for any athlete, but at just 21, it is an experience Raducanu could still have multiple times in her career.
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