Raducanu set to play in Nottingham this week but just 12 months ago, she was barely able to move.
Emma Raducanu has confirmed that she is feeling “really healthy” at the moment but admits it feels “surreal” to remember that around this time a year ago she was bedridden and only able to move when using a mobility scooter.
Last May, Raducanu had three surgeries in 15 days after she had procedures on both wrists, as well as her left ankle. Since both of Raducanu’s wrists were operated on, she couldn’t use crutches early in her recovery because that would be putting pressure on her wrists. And riding a scooter remained as Raducanu’s only option of moving around her house.
For Raducanu, basically being bedridden and not able to do much wasn’t easy and she now also admits certain doubts were creeping in her mind at the time.
“It was pretty surreal because obviously I couldn’t be on crutches because I’d had two wrist surgeries,” Raducanu said, via Yahoo! Sport.
“So I had a cast on one hand – I’d timed it so I didn’t have two casts at the same time, obviously – a splint on the other and my ankle was also pretty much immobilized, in a splint and stitches. So I would just scooter around with one knee. As someone who is so active it’s difficult to just shut your body down.
“I think it’s very easy for me to lose sight of where I was exactly a year ago because it is pretty much a year ago to this day, this month. You get so caught up in your own world that you want more and more and more. But a year ago I was on a scooter scooting around and I didn’t know – there was an element of doubt.”
Raducanu enters Nottingham ‘really healthy’
This week, Raducanu is set to start her grass season in Nottingham and also play her first tournament in a month and a half. While Raducanu hasn’t played since Madrid, everything was perfectly fine with her health as it was her decision to skip the Rome Open and French Open after not being awarded wildcards there.
And at the start of the grass season, Raducanu is feeling great both physically and mentally.
On Tuesday, Raducanu starts her Nottingham campaign by playing against 274th-ranked qualifier Ena Shibahara. For Raducanu, 21, and 26-year-old Shibahara, that will be their first meeting.
“To be healthy and to be here, I need to cherish it. So thanks for reminding me to do that,” Raducanu added.
“Body-wise, physical-wise, I feel really healthy. I feel really strong. I’ve done amazing work with my trainer over the last few months, since surgery.”
Raducanu opens up on why Nottingham is ‘a special place’ for her
Exactly three years ago, Raducanu made her WTA debut on the grass courts of Nottingham when she as a wildcard lost to fellow Briton Harriet Dart in the first round.
After exiting a WTA 250 tournament in Nottingham, Raducanu didn’t leave the town as she stayed there for an ITF tournament that was taking place the following week. And this time, Raducanu did better as she reached the ITF Nottingham quarterfinal before losing to Tsvetana Pironkova.
Raducanu’s Nottingham result led to Wimbledon awarding her a main draw wildcard – where then-the 18-year-old Briton reached the round-of-16 In her Grand Slam debut. And as you probably already know very well, two months after making her WTA and Grand Slam debut, Raducanu became a Grand Slam champion at the US Open.
Now reflecting on everything, Raducanu says her Nottingham appearance probably led to the Wimbledon result and then it all led to her US Open win.
“I would say Nottingham is a special place in my career. I am fond of it because it’s where everything started, my first WTA match, then I played the 100k the week after and that is where I got my Wimbledon wildcard because I didn’t get it in the first announcement,” Raducanu explained.
“I had to win two matches in the 100k and then I got the wildcard and made fourth round at Wimbledon. So it is a very special place, if I hadn’t got that wildcard who knows what would have happened, or if the US would have happened.
“So it is a compilation of small moments where you don’t know what is going to happen. It is obviously different coming back here having won the US Open than before.”
Raducanu also played in Nottingham in 2022, when she was forced to retire to Viktorija Golubic in the first set of their first-round match due to an injury.
It remains to be seen if Raducanu can finally clinch her first win at the WTA tournament in Nottingham and kick off her grass season on positive note.
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