Emma Raducanu can see the benefits of playing on the second-tier ITF circuit. Photo: Robert Prange/Getty Images
Emma Raducanu says she is ready to move down a level in search of more playing experience, which could mean attending an ITF second division tournament.
Following her three-set defeat to China's Yafan Wang remains ranked among the world's top 300 on Thursday, which is too low to secure her direct entry into WTA tournaments based on her ranking alone.
She has already received an invitation to the Abu Dhabi Open tournament, which begins on February 5. This begs the question of whether Doha and Dubai (the next two big events in the Middle East) would also be interested in rushing her into the draw.
Otherwise, she could play a modest $40,000 tournament dollars at the National Tennis Center in Roehampton the week after Abu Dhabi (from 12 February) or perhaps $60,000 at Porto a week later (from 19 February).
The prize money for winning the competition will be £3,140 and £4,750 respectively — a drop in the bucket for the woman who was last year fourth on Forbes' list of richest sportswomen with an estimated income of around £. 12 million. Her US Open triumph brought in around £1.8 million.
“I really think the difference in level between the quote ‘lower level tournaments’ and these tournaments is not that big,” Raducanu said in Melbourne. “Because you learn so many skills, you play in these conditions. The wind here was a prime example. My opponent [Wang] has played a lot in ITF and has a lot of matches under her belt, but the level is really not that different. So yes, I would play whatever fits my schedule and plan.»
Raduceanu believes that the experience of participating in ITF tournaments he helped Yafan Wang. Photo: Edgar Su/Reuters
After Dubai, the next big tournaments are the American duo of Indian Wells and Miami, known as the Sunshine Double, which takes up almost the entire month of March. . Raducanu's protected ranking of No. 103, which she can use in eight more tournaments after her first appearance here at the Australian Open, should be good enough to earn her a qualifying spot for those tournaments. But it looks like she wants to get a decent run of matches in first.
“I would like to compete early,” Raducanu said when asked about the Sunshine Double. “I think I’ll go back now, train a little, get some things in order. Then it depends on the rankings and the wildcard situation.”
What about the team around her? Nick Cavaday, the children's coach she first worked with at six-year-old Bromley Tennis Academy, will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Raducanu said: “The work we do is paying off because getting me to this level from scratch in just six weeks was good.”
Raducanu will remain with coach Nick Cavadei (left) for now. Photo: James D. Morgan/Getty Images
The next question is whether she should hire a traveling fitness trainer, especially considering how she loses strength in crucial sets. Three of her four matches on this trip to Australia and New Zealand were three-setters, and in two of them she was seriously affected by loss of fitness. Even when she beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse in Auckland, she came under increasing pressure and was only saved by a clutch that caused her death.
Raducanu was ready to support this idea. “I worked with a really good coach in London,” she said. “But he's in the Lawn Tennis Association, so I don't know if he travels a lot. I think traveling with a fitness trainer every now and then on certain weeks is a great idea. For example, when the tournaments are two weeks long (this applies to both Indian Wells and Miami). If you get knocked out of the game early, this is a great opportunity to do a 10-day small block. So I think it's worth paying attention to. But in the near future. I think in practice I just have more time to fix mistakes.”
Mistakes were certainly an issue for Raducanu against Wang. During the third set, she vomited on a towel after contracting what she assumed was some kind of stomach virus. And then there was a glitch on the right — more like what she was talking about above — that sent her airmail perhaps a dozen balls over the baseline.
Raducanu was let down by her forehand in the match with Wang. Photo: Robert Prange/Getty Images
On Thursday evening they still managed to show a decent result against an opponent who plays in a similar style. Raducan herself. And the whole experience of returning to Arena 1573 — the same court where she won her first-round match last year — seemed very motivating.
«It's pretty surreal,» she said of the warm support she received received. from fans, many of whom were British expats. “I really missed this feeling. Wow, I think being away and coming back, I was really overwhelmed and surprised at how much support I received. So I really took it, but not as a farewell word. I was more like, “Well, I just want to keep going and keep seeing them all.”
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