Emma Raducanu facing huge rankings drop ahead of return to WTA Tour
Emma Raducanu is facing up to a huge rankings drop as she prepares to return to action at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
The 2021 US Open champion has been given a wildcard into the tournament in California, where she reached the fourth round in impressive fashion last year.
Those three wins in a WTA 1000 event are now threatening to contribute to a huge ranking fall for the former British No 1, as the points she collected at Indian Wells are about to drop off her current ranking.
That means she has dropped a massive 89 places and is down to No 339 in the current WTA live ranking.
Raducanu could rise back into the top 300 if she collects some wins over the next few days and she has a good chance to make progress as she takes on Spanish qualifier Rebeka Masarova on Thursday in the first round.
Yet she is in line to take on reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka if she reaches the third round at Indian Wells and that will make it tough for her to match her run to the last-16 a year ago.
The 21-year-old, who reached the fourth round in the Californian desert last year, has been training at home in London for the last couple of weeks.
“I want to work on becoming a better tennis player,” Raducanu said.
“I think for me I’m not too concerned about this year’s tournaments.
“A lot of people out there would say that I need matches, but I think that for me I want to work on my game and development.
READ MORE: Former British No 1 makes bullish predictions for Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu
“Taking time to do that is very necessary and not just following the crowd, or playing a lot of matches, or dropping down [to Challenger level] to do that. I want to work on developing skills,” she told BBC Sport in Southern California.
Raducanu played her best tennis of 2023 in Indian Wells, reaching the fourth round having found out just before the tournament began that she was likely to need surgery on both her wrists.
“It’s just a bit of a journey for me, I would say, you don’t really know what to expect after being out for eight months,” she continued.
“I felt like because I was so go-go-go since December, I felt like I became a little fatigued, so it was good to go back, freshen up and practise for the American swing, which I’m a big fan of.”
Meanwhile, former British No 1 Tim Henman has insisted expectations need to be diluted around Raducanu as she finds her way back from three operations on her wrists and ankle last year.
“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.”
“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 who 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.”
The good news for Raducanu is that she has very few points to defend for the rest of this year after the Indian Wells Masters, so she could rise quickly up the WTA rankings if she can find some form over the next few weeks.
