Emma Raducanu’s latest injury might not have been as painful and gruesome as initially thought despite her withdrawal from this year’s Miami Open.
The British tennis star was handed a wild card to compete in the fourth WTA 1000 tournament of the season in Florida after an impressive week in Indian Wells, where she reached the third round.
Wins over Rebeka Masarova and Dayana Yastremska (retirement) set up an exciting clash against World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Raducanu gave it her all, but her lack of sufficient matches in the past year was evident as she lost in two tight sets.
This week, she was set to play in Miami and had been optimistically preparing for the tournament. She called her Indian Wells runs a “success” and did not let outside noise affect her momentum after tennis legend Martina Navratilova’s criticism of Raducanu’s US Open win in 2021.
The 21-year-old was included in the draw in Miami and even learned the identity of her first-round opponent and projected route which looked winnable in the first week until she decided to withdraw due to a back injury.
“It was amazing when she won but it’s become a handicap because the expectations have gone sky-high. It wasn’t a fluke because Emma has got that level. It wasn’t just she played great tennis and then all of a sudden she can’t play, but the pressure that’s been on her since then – particularly being a Brit – you can’t get away from it.”
This explanation from Navratilova makes perfect sense because Raducanu has been under a lot of pressure since then. She even admitted that sometimes she wishes that she never won it.
As Navratilova explained, it’s a pretty big burden to carry, especially with the Brit’s name almost nonstop in the media.
“It’s a big burden to carry, but hopefully she’ll get back to it and most of all she needs to get healthy and stay healthy – and, that way, you can build on that. It’s hard to build any confidence and momentum from winning because you don’t stay healthy enough to win.”
“It’s a nasty Catch 22 where you can win with confidence but you can’t have confidence without winning. Hopefully she’ll get healthy and stay healthy so we’ll see her talent again.”
