Tim Henman discusses expectations ahead of ‘massively exciting’ Emma Raducanu comeback
Tim Henman believes the imminent return of Emma Raducanu is “massively exciting” but stressed the importance of fans managing their expectations.
The former world No 4 highlighted the fact Raducanu is “still massively inexperienced” and feels staying injury-free in the early months of her comeback would be a “fantastic” outcome.
Raducanu missed most of the 2023 season due to injury and underwent surgery on both her wrists and her ankle in May. She played just 10 matches across five tournaments this year and posted a 5-5 record.
The 2021 US Open champion is set to make her long-awaited comeback next month at the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland, which will run from 1-7 January.
The 21-year-old suffered an ankle injury which forced her to retire during her second round match in Auckland in January in her first event of the year. The Brit then lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Coco Gauff, before next competing in Indian Wells almost two months later.
Raducanu achieved her best result of 2023 in Indian Wells by winning three matches to reach the last 16, where she was beaten by Iga Swiatek. She was then beaten in the opening round in Miami to Bianca Andreescu, before losing to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart in April in her most recent match.
Speaking in an interview with Eurosport, Henman outlined why there must be perspective when assessing what to expect early on in Raducanu’s comeback.
“It’s massively exciting to have Raducanu coming back. I think it’s important that everybody around tennis who’s a fan, who’s excited to see Raducanu back on the court, manages their expectations,” the six-time Grand Slam semi-finalist said.
“She’s been out for a long, long time and she’s still massively inexperienced. She’s played so few tour level events, she’s played so few matches in her whole professional career.
“So for me, from, let’s say, the first three, four months of the year, I think if she could stay injury-free and play a whole series of tournaments without any setbacks, I think that would be fantastic because there is no doubt about her ability.
“She’s an incredible tennis player. She’s working hard to build her physical resilience so that she can be out on court, be on tour and compete. I think patience is a really important word for Raducanu herself, but also all the people that are excited to see her come back.
“She’s 21 years of age. She’s got the next ten years in front of her. She just needs to build that foundation so that she can get out on tour and compete and show the undeniable talents that she has.
“I think for me, any event that she’s going to play is great. If it’s qualifying at the Australian Open, great. If she gets into the main draw, great. If she’s going to drop down and sort of play smaller WTA events, Challenger events, ITF events, it does not matter.
“Just to be on the court competing and staying injury free, that is the biggest tick in the box that Raducanu could have.”
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