Former Wimbledon winner says Emma Raducanu has the potential to return to top 10 of the WTA Rankings
Emma Raducanu “absolutely has the potential” to return to the top 10 in the WTA Rankings, according to Marion Bartoli although the tennis commentator admits the British youngster has a lot of work ahead of her.
2021 US Open winner Raducanu is 3-4 since making her return to competitive tennis at the beginning of this campaign following an extended period on the sidelines in 2023.
Her latest defeat – a 6-0, 7-6 (10-8) loss to Anhelina Kalinina at the Qatar Open on Monday – has raised questions about what is next for the 21-year-old, who has admitted that she needs more matches under her belt as well as extra time on the practice courts.
“I think it’s going to come with more time, practising as well as matches,” Raducanu told Sky Sports Tennis after her exit from the WTA 1000 event.
“I think it’s going to come with time, practising and it’s hard for me to get used to just the tour schedule, it’s just like: tournament, back, tournament just straight away.”
Raducanu has indicated that she will skip next week’s Dubai Tennis Championships and instead get more training under her belt with her next tournament likely to be the Indian Wells Masters at the beginning of March, although she will likely need a wildcard to enter the main draw of the California event.
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2013 Wimbledon winner Bartoli dissected Raducanu’s performance against Kalinina and believes the British No 7 struggled physically during the latter stages of the match.
“I felt towards the end of the second set she was getting a little tired and they had two really long points when Emma was up 6-5 in the tie-break and you can see on the match point she was basically struggling physically, so it’s all of that you have to take in,” she told Sky Sports Tennis.
“A huge debrief has to be done with her team as to what’s going on now that she’s been able to play a few tournaments back to back and really come up with a plan because you can see some of the shots are still there.”
Raducanu reached a career-high No 10 in the WTA Rankings in July 2022 on the back of her US Open title run the previous year, but she currently sits at No 264 following her eight-month layoff last year.
Bartoli, though, believes she can jump into the top 10 again through hard work.
The Frenchwoman added: “You can see that if she put it together she has absolutely the potential to come back in that top 10 but a lot of work needs to be done.”
