Emma Raducanu to face world No 128 in WTA Tour return match

Emma Raducanu makes her WTA Tour return at the ASB Classic in Auckland in the coming week.

Her opponent has now been confirmed after the draw for the WTA 250 event.

Since losing to Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets on Stuttgart’s clay courts in April, Raducanu has not participated in any tournaments. The British star has had a long and arduous journey back to the sport.

Due to issues with his ankle and wrist, the 2021 US Open champion was unable to continue to compete on tour. In order to fully recover from both injuries, she also needed operations, which prolonged her absence from competition.

Raducanu, who lately boasted greatly about her recovery, will at last make her return at ASB Classic in Auckland. The twenty-one-year-old has a challenging and intriguing task when she faces her opponent in the first round.

Raducanu will face Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round in Auckland. The Romanian, who is ranked 128th in the world right now, qualified for the main draw and is set to face the British player in her first full WTA Tour match of the season.

Raducanu has good cause for optimism. Given that she is at least facing a player outside of the top 100 in her first match back, she will feel she has a chance of starting with a win. Furthermore, Ruse has clearly spent her whole playing career feeling most at ease on clay courts.

However, towards the close of the last season, Ruse did unexpectedly make it to her maiden hard court final in her home tournament in Transylvania. That demonstrates that when Ruse finds her range, she is capable of playing excellent hard court tennis.

Seeing how Raducanu does in this competition will be interesting and how she copes with pressure and attention will be noted.

While it will likely take time for Raducanu to find her feet on the match court again, she believes she is returning to the tour as a better player and hungry to succeed.

“It’s going to be fun, I think, going out there competing again, having the competitive juices flowing,” she said.

“I’ve been training really well in practice so overall I’m feeling really good about my game. I think tennis wise I’m better than I was a year ago today, it’s just playing a match it’s going to be different.

“I got to spend a lot of time just thinking how I feel and I definitely got that hunger back just to be on the court competing, training, sweating. I think you really appreciate the time you have when you’re healthy and on court.”

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