Emma Raducanu could be back during the Asian swing this autumn as the Brit ramps up her training following surgery. The 20-year-old hasn’t played a match since April, missing three of this year’s four Grand Slam titles. But Laura Robson revealed that Raducanu had been “hitting big” at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and was eyeing a potential comeback in September.
Raducanu had operations on one ankle and both wrists back in May, announcing that she would be sidelined from tennis for several months. The former world No 10 only got back on the practice court at the start of August but her recovery seems to be going very well as retired pro Robson revealed that she already had a comeback date in mind.
Having won the US Open as a qualifier two years ago, Raducanu is now missing the tournament this year. Robson backed her to find the form that saw her make tennis history. “It’s definitely possible. You know, she just needs to get healthy,” the 29-year-old said.
“I heard that she’s trying to come back for the Asian swing after US Open. Hopefully that works out, but you almost don’t want to set a date on it because then inevitably, there’s gonna be a couple of setbacks along the way, as there always is with rehab.”
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The Asian swing returns to the WTA calendar in full this year, with tournaments being staged in China for the first time since 2019. The Guangzhou Open kicks off that portion of the tennis season on September 18, with regular tour events in Asia concluding on October 22.
If Raducanu does decide to come back during the Asian swing, she has eight tournaments to choose from over a five-week span meaning she may only come back part-way through. But Robson didn’t want the 20-year-old to focus too much on that return date and said Raducanu could instead look to get back on the tour in 2024.
“So I think just to take the pressure off it would be great if she makes it there and also fine if she doesn’t,” she explained. “Then you can come back next year and try again. But I think just to get into a bit of a routine again would be probably quite nice for her.”
But there was still good news coming out of the National Tennis Centre – where Raducanu has been training. Former world No 27 Robson added: “Honestly, I don’t know. Just the progression through with the wrist surgery from Mini Reds and sponge balls, it does go quite quickly. So I think she’s actually probably already hitting it pretty big at the NTC.”
The US Open returns exclusively to Sky Sports and NOW with feeds to all courts from August 28.