Emma Raducanu’s preparations for Wimbledon have once again been disrupted by injury concerns, and former British top player Johanna Konta says the 23-year-old needs to work on handling adversity better if she wants to reach her potential.
Raducanu’s career since her remarkable 2021 U.S. Open victory — achieved as a teenage qualifier — has been marked by a string of physical setbacks and illnesses, along with a revolving door of coaching staff.
Recently reunited with coach Andrew Richardson, the same coach she parted ways with shortly after her stunning Flushing Meadows win, Raducanu showed renewed form by reaching the Queen’s Club final two weeks ago. She enters Wimbledon as the 30th seed.
However, fresh concerns have emerged after Raducanu withdrew from the Nottingham Open. On Saturday, she was spotted with her lower leg wrapped due to shin discomfort and ended her practice session early. She also called off her pre-tournament media appearance, fueling anxiety ahead of her Monday first-round match against Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic on Court One.
Konta, who advanced to the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2017 and climbed as high as number four in the world rankings, suggested that some of Raducanu’s physical troubles may be connected to the weight of expectation placed on her shoulders. Konta will be part of Eurosport’s commentary team during the tournament.
“My opinion on Emma… it’s her building, her continuing to build up her tolerance to adversity,” Konta told Reuters. “Not in the sense that she can’t handle tough times but I think when it comes to, on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis, when things aren’t going well, you feel pain much more, it’s much easier to feel injured.”
Konta went on to explain that injury perception can be heavily influenced by how a player is performing mentally and emotionally. “And it’s not because you are necessarily looking for an excuse or you are necessarily looking for an easy, quote unquote, an easy way out. When you are on a match court, and things aren’t going well, if you have a niggle, an injury that you’re going into that match with, you will definitely feel it a lot more than if things are going well,” she said.
“So I think for her, I’ve been really keen to see her really make peace with the difficulty of it,” Konta added.
Konta described Raducanu’s U.S. Open triumph as “insane” and noted that winning a Grand Slam so early has essentially put her career in reverse order. “Since then, it’s been a bit of a catch-up. She’s been trying to gain experience, trying to gain match fitness, trying to gain years on tour being a Grand Slam champion,” Konta said.
Konta also addressed the pressure Raducanu faces to constantly explain her results. “I think for me, I’m really willing and hoping for her to not get the monkey off her back or make peace with the monkey. I feel like there’s pressure to explain away why things aren’t going well, the pressure to feel like she has to have a reason why things aren’t (going well). A lot of these injuries, I think, will be rooted in stress more than anything as well.”
Raducanu’s recent history has been difficult. This year she dealt with a post-viral illness and a back problem before losing in the first round of the French Open. In 2023, she missed both the French Open and Wimbledon after undergoing procedures on both hands and an ankle. She also cut her 2023 season short due to illness.
