Top physical trainer Kieron Vorster believes that Britain’s young tennis star Emma Raducanu must follow in the footsteps of the former world number one Andy Murray to become fitter. The 21-year-old was once regarded as the next big thing when she lifted the US Open title at the age of 18 in 2021.
The most impressive aspect of Raducanu’s triumph three years back was that she started the campaign through the qualifying round and managed to go all the way and win the title after beating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-3. However, since then, not much has gone right for the former world number 10, and much of that was down to suffering from injuries.
Raducanu returned to the court earlier this year but has found it hard to consistently produce positive results. Her most recent appearance was in the Korean Open, where she was forced to retire during the quarterfinal against Russia’s Daria Kasatkina because of a foot injury. That also ruled her out of the ongoing China Open.
English media outlet Daily Mail spoke to Vorster, who is a former strength and conditioning coach of Tim Henman, Dan Evans and Wayne Ferreira, who explained why Raducanu has struggled to maintain consistency and fitness at the highest level. Vorster was of the opinion that the one-time Grand Slam winner must follow in the footsteps of Andy Murray to become fitter. She also suggested that she is struggling because there are too many ‘yes’ people around her.
Emma Raducanu smacks a forehand down the line winner against Pegula in Eastbourne.
Her forehand is downright beautiful when she’s timing it well & feeling confident.
Hoping to see a lot more of this at Wimbledon. 🇬🇧💚
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 26, 2024
“She just doesn’t play enough matches,’ said Vorster. “I’ve seen her train and she trains hard, she works hard, there’s no doubting that. But you can train as hard as you like — if you don’t have that match fitness, your body is not hardened and robust enough to play match after match after match. I think there could potentially be a lot of ‘yes’ people around her, instead of people telling her what she doesn’t want to hear. She’s a good player. That’s not the issue. She turned down playing the Olympics, playing the French Open. At 21 I just think it’s crazy — you should be jumping at the chance. You’ve only got to look at Andy Murray for somebody who made all the sacrifices year after year: train in the heat in Miami, come back for one, maybe two days for Christmas, then he’d be off again to Australia.”
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