Emma Raducanu warned she may come to regret Australian Open gift with US Open example given

A dip in form in 2023 followed by surgery on both her wrists and an ankle saw Raducanu slide down the WTA rankings and her 'special ranking' heading into the first major of 2024 originally wasn't enough to qualify her for the main draw.

Several withdrawals put Raducanu on the cusp of making the cut before American tennis star Lauren Davis pulled out and gave the Brit a spot in the main draw.

That gave Raducanu more time to rest ahead of her first-round match and it seems that was needed as the British star pulled out of two exhibition matches this week.

Her first-round match at the Australian Open will be Raducanu's third competitive match since returning to the WTA Tour from her long injury lay-off.

And Roddick suggests that Raducanu would have actually benefitted from competing in qualifying to gain more match fitness, citing her run at the US Open nearly three years ago.

"I feel like we’re always guessing what’s going on with Emma, so I will just base my opinion on the facts of what I saw last week," he wrote in his blog for Betway.

"She looked very good in the first round and even better against Elina Svitolina.

"The first couple sets of that match were extremely high quality.

"I was really encouraged by the level that I saw. She was playing on the front foot a lot more than what we had last seen, she was competing well and, most importantly, she seemed healthy and recovered.

"She got great news that there were enough pull-outs in the main draw for the Australian Open that she now has this week to prep, though I did think it might be a good thing for her to have to go through qualifying as it’s important to get those matches in and she has a pretty good record at Slams where she’s had to earn her spot."

Raducanu has eased any fears that she's carrying any injury worries heading into the Australian Open, but is putting no pressure or expectations on herself for the first major of the year.

She said: “Physically I feel good. I did a lot of good work in the off-season.

“But I think that, regardless of how good I may feel on the court on a particular day or in practice, I think to get that level of consistency is going to require more time.

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“I’ve been doing the right work, doing it consistently.

"I just need to keep going more and more. But I feel good on court and in the gym.”